Jagan-RRR War: Undavalli’s Advice

The war between AP CM YS Jagan and his own party MP Raghurama Krishna Raju (RRR) has been playing out in the open for a long time. It even got uglier with the arrest of Raghurama Krishna Raju by CID police. Raghurama Raju has alleged that he was beaten up by police and he has escalated the issue with the Lok Sabha speaker.

Speaking on the issue, former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar advised CM Jagan to compromise and go soft on Raju. He advised that his late father YS Rajasekhar Reddy was known for astuteness and took timely action. Sharing an anecdote involving late CM YSR, Undavalli said that YSR was an MP and he was staging dharna outside AP Bhavan in Delhi along with other Congress MPs. During which, YSR had beaten an AP Bhavan employee over a fit of rage. Following this, AP Bhavan employees had staged a counter dharna against YSR. That’s when YSR himself walked out to the camp of AP Bhavan employees and called on the person he had beaten. YSR hugged the person he had beaten and said ‘sorry’. That’s how the issue ended amicably and all those AP Bhavan employees who were chanting slogans against YSR stopped it and called off their dharna. Undavalli said that no one had asked YSR to do so and YSR did it out of his own conviction. He said that is the quality of a true leader.

Veering towards the Jagan and RRR issue, Undavalli said that he would personally advise a person in a bigger and better position to cool down and compromise. Maintaining that he is neither supporting Raghurama Krishna Raju nor YS Jagan, Undavalli advised both the parties to calm down and compromise. He added that those who compromise in the issue would turn out to be the winner. Undavalli even recalled how Raghurama Krishna Raju had fought for Jagan during his arrest in the Disproportionate Assets case and quid pro quo allegations. Undavalli recalled how Raghurama Krishna Raju had gone all out against then CBI Joint Director Lakshminarayana and even showed his call list. Undavalli said that no one in RRR position ( a businessman with hundreds of crores at stake) would fight against a bureaucrat so openly. He had himself put in a spot and even was supposed to get arrested for his fight against JD Lakshminarayana.

Undavalli said that he is surprised at what triggered Raghurama Krishna Raju against Jaganmohan Reddy. He advised Jagan that the issue of beating a sitting MP would cause more damage to his image nationally. He said that it is not too late for Jagan as the door is still open and asked Jagan to compromise with Raju in the ugly spat.