Sonia approved Odarpu, Jagan skewed message

The Kadapa MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has deliberately misled the state Congress about what exactly the party president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, conveyed to him regarding his Odarpu yatra. This is the impression that Mr Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Mrs Gandhi, gave to MLAs and Union ministers from the state.

When Congress MLAs from Prakasam district and the Union ministers, Ms Daggubati Purandareswari and Ms Panabaka Lakshmi, met Mr Patel in Delhi two days ago, he reportedly told them that Mr Jagan had misrepresented the outcome of a meeting that he and his family had with Mrs Gandhi in June.

Ms Purandareswari, in a press statement released on Thursday in Delhi, gave details of what Ms Gandhi had said during the June meeting. She said Ms Gandhi had favoured the yatra and reportedly suggested that the Congress should be involved in it.

Ms Gandhi had told Mr Jagan that in each district headquarters, a statue of YSR should be installed, and the families of the victims should be consoled at the headquarters. She had suggested that the monetary help that is being extended to them by YSR’s family be shared by the Congress.

Instead, Mr Jagan dashed off an open letter stating “somehow Mrs Gandhi is not in favour of the manner in which Odarpu yatra is being undertaken. She conveyed me that family members of the victims should be brought to the state headquarters and helped, and I told her that is not possible.” Late on Thursday, Mr Jagan called on Mr Pranab Mukherjee, after putting in an appearance at a dinner hosted by Mr Veerappa Moily.