Worried over the negative fall out of an aggressive campaign by his loyalists and supporters and increasing irritation of the Congress high command with “emotional blackmail, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Sunday called for a halt to the efforts to project him as successor to his father. At a time when his supporters were taking to the streets across the state, holding demonstrations and organizing hunger strike camps, and had even targeted the Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and the state Congress president D. Srinivas at official condolence meeting of Congres in Hyderabad, Jagan issued a lengthy statement professing his loyalty to the Congress and the Gandhi family. Taking a cue from the warning signals sent by the party's high command over the last two days disapproving the campaign of his loyalists Jagan said “This is not the time or occasion”. Since the Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's death in a helicopter crash Wednesday, this was the first time that Jagan broke his silence on the issue of succession and his future political role. While his statement was full of exhortations his supporters to remain calm, he did not deny that he was very much in the race for the leadership. In fact he expressed hope that Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take a favorable decision. “Our beloved leader and president of AICC, Sonia Gandhi will take a decision in such a way that Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy's ideals, mission and zeal would not be compromised in any manner”, Jagan said. Meanwhile, clearing the legal confusion and ending the political uncertainty, all the 34 ministers in Andhra Pradesh took a fresh oath Sunday evening to meet the constitutional requirement. The governor Narayn Dutt Tiwari administered the oath of office. What was a mere formality of fresh oath after the death of the Chief Minister assumed immense political significance as many ministers refused to take the oath as they wanted to take oath only under Jaganmohan Reddy. But they were forced to fall in line by a stern high command, which sent a clear message that it will not tolerate any indiscipline on their part.
