Door Closed For Roja In YSR Congress?

YSR Congress is currently undergoing several structural and framework changes after the 2024 election defeat. While several leaders have been leaving the party, including seniors, like Vijay Sai Reddy and Balineni Srinivas Reddy, there are certain new additions as well.

In this context, something interesting is happening with regard to the Nagari assembly constituency, which was briefly represented by YCP lady firebrand Roja. The latest updates are suggesting that Raja could be having a tough time in sustaining with the electoral process in YCP.

As per the latest reports, Gali Jagadish Prakash, the son of late TDP loyalist Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu is likely to join YCP at the earliest. There are reports that he could perhaps be joining the party as early as February 12.

Jagadish is the brother of current TDP MLA from Nagari, Gali Bhanu and allegedly, he isn’t in good terms with his brother now. This is touted to be the reason why he is joining YCP as he is looking to have one over his brother who recently won Nagari by a huge margin.

Historically, Nagari constituency has been a solid bastion for Gali family. Though Roja won the 2014 and 19 election, it was largely due to the Jagan wave. She won by just 850 votes in 2014 and then by 2708 votes in 2019.

In that case, having a member of the Gali family itself as the YCP candidate would greatly help the Jagan party as it could split the family loyalist vote and even weaken Bhanu’s prospects.

But the real question here is – Will Jagan decide to skip Roja for the next election and go for a newcomer like Gali Jagadish who has TDP DNA? Though this looks like a favourable option, Jagan is regarded as a man who values loyalty. In that case, Roja has been a fierce supporter of him for many years and even badmouths CBN and Lokesh at the will of Jagan.

If so, would Roja be able to retain the Nagari assembly ticket due to the fact that she’s in the good books of Jagan? Or will Jagan go for a favorable outcome and split the Gali vote bank through Jagadish? What’s for certain is that Nagari politics are going to heat up big time.