Seema coterie makes Jagan yatra a success

Vowing to dedicate his life to fulfil his father’s mission, Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, launched the second phase of his controversial Odarpu yatra from Itchapuram town on Thursday morning.

Senior leaders including MLAs and ministers were conspicuously absent as Jagan is undertaking the yatra in open defiance of the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

However, sources said that Rayalaseema Congress leaders are working behind the scenes and spending copious funds to make it a huge success. The yatra’s purported aim is to console families of those who died after the copter crash which killed Jagan’s father, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, last year.

“It is unbelievable that you have so much love for my father,” he said addressing a big crowd at the Praja Prasthanam Vijayavatika, built to mark YSR’s famous padayatra of 2003, which swept the Congress back to power. “I am seeing my father in your eyes. People of the entire state are blessing my historic tour.”

Jagan arrived at the Itchapuram railway station at about 8.30 am where thousands of supporters greeted him. Later, he was taken in a huge rally to the Vijayavatika, where he cut a cake to observe his father’s birthday which falls on July 8. “It is a different experience to observe my father’s birth anniversary here and I will not forget it in my lifetime,” Jagan said in an emotional tone. “I am proud to be his son and will dedicate my life to fulfil the mission that was launched by my father.”