This YCP MLA Maintain Distance From Jagan?

The ruling party legislators are trying to maintain distance from their party boss and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy as many of them are of the opinion that it would help them easily switch sides during the election time.

Darsi MLA Maddisetti Venugopal seems to following this path as he is conspicuous by his absence at the review meetings called by Jagan. While other party leaders, MLAs, ministers and constituency in-charges make it a point to attend the meeting with all the necessary info in hand, Maddisetti is conveniently staying away from them.

Earlier, he even publicly criticized Jagan regarding pressing buttons and non-payment of bills for works done. Now, his absence from the review meetings has become a hot topic of discussion in the political circles.

Venugopal entered politics in 2009 by joining the Praja Rajyam Party. The owner of a group of engineering colleges, Venugopal was defeated and he distanced himself from politics. In 2019, he joined the YSRC and had a chance to contest the elections, and he won with a majority of 30,000 votes. Buchepalli Siva Prasad Reddy, who helped Venugopal for some time in the past, is now his rival. The YCP cadre got split into two factions in Prakasam district following the infighting.

There was talk that Jagan Mohan Reddy admonished Venugopal for appointing his own mandal in-charges in the constituency and also allowing his brother Sridhar to be the shadow MLA. At the same time, Jagan reportedly gave importance to Buchepalli and this led to rivalry between them.

At this time, government launched the Gadapa Gadapaku but Venugopal took light of this programme too. There is talk that Maddisetti did not care to listen to Jagan even when the latter warned him about his non-participation in the Gadapa Gadapaku.

The YCP cadre still remembers Maddisetti’s hot comments at the party plenary when he said that to take part in Gadapa Gadapaku, the MLAs should fund at least a couple of works in the villages. To complete these works, funds should be released, he said.

He also said that if Jagan Reddy is pressing the button, he is gaining political mileage but not the MLAs. Venugopal, who is not happy with the YCP, did not attend the review meeting held by Jagan in last November and also another one held recently.

This led to speculation that he was looking at the TDP while a few others said that he might opt for the Jana Sena.