YSR Congress does not rule out possibility of merger with Congress

[1]

YSR Congress, which had virtually decimated the Congress party in a large number of by-elections, does not rule out the possibility of its eventual merger or alliance with the parent party.

"The future will decide that," was the cryptic reply that YSR Congress honorary president and MLA Y.S. Vijaya gave when questioned about political speculation in this regard.

Asked specifically whether she would rule out the possibility of either YSRC's merger or alliance with Congress, she merely said the future would decide that.

"Jagan has categorically said there will be not be any alliance with communal parties (read BJP)," Vijaya recalled, while talking to agencies here on Friday afternoon, indicating that their options vis-a-vis the Congress were open.

For long, the principal opposition Telugu Desam Party had been alleging that YSRC was into a 'match-fixing' deal with the Congress and once Jagan was bailed out of the ongoing criminal cases, the two parties would become one.

Even today, TDP politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu forecast that the YSR Congress would eventually merge with the Congress.

"Is it not a fact that Vijaya and Jagan entered into an agreement with the Congress to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister in 2014? Why did Jagan and Vijaya not publicise the agreements they had with the Congress high command," Yanamala said in a statement.

Vijaya's ambivalent stand vis-a-vis the Congress only gives credence to the opposition's charge.

The widow of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy sat on a two-day 'Fees Deeksha' here demanding that the state government extend the fee reimbursement scheme to all students without any restrictions.

With her son and Kadapa MP lodged in jail as an undertrial in the disproportionate assets case, Vijaya has been holding fort of the 18-month-old party and taking on the Congress government in AP through a series of agitation programmes on different issues.

"The (Kiran Kumar Reddy) government lacks the vision or the magnanimity of YSR. With a budget of Rs 1.49 lakh crore, can't it reimburse the tuition fee for a few hundred poor students," the MLA questioned, adding the Congress was trying to gradually do away with the scheme.

"Before YSR became Chief Minister, no poor student could even dream of becoming an engineer or a doctor but he turned their dreams into reality by launching the fee reimbursement scheme under saturation concept," she recalled.

The YSRC was building an awareness among people on various issues and trying to open the government's eyes, she said.

"We will be with the people always and fight for their cause. Being an opposition party now, we may not do anything but we can give the confidence to people that once Jagan becomes the Chief Minister, all their problems will be solved and they can prosper," Vijaya said.