Political Diary

In his lifetime P Janardhan Reddy (PJR) was a popular man and even a year and a half after his death he is remembered fondly in his Khairatabad constituency. Reddy, before he died suddenly in December 2007, was planning to re-contest the 2009 elections from Khairatabad and get his son Vishnuvardhan Reddy to fight from the newly-created Jubilee Hills constituency. When the process for selection of candidates was kicked off this time, Vishnu went to Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and asked for two tickets for the family in line with late father’s plans. “Give me Jubilee Hill and give my sister a seat from Khairatabad,” the rookie Vishnu with a none too great reputation to boast of told the chief minister. YSR looked him up and down and asked him to buzz off. The Congress, however, gave Vishnu the Jubilee Hills ticket, but now he has started becoming a spoilsport for his own party. His sister P Vijaya Reddy has filed her nomination from the Serilingampally constituency that includes parts of the old Khairatabad seat. Analysts say that this will badly affect the chances of the Congress candidate for the seat. Vijaya, who has no previous experience in politics, denies any such plan undertaken by her brother, but political observers say that this indeed is a move by PJR’s son. “Vishnuvardhan Reddy has fielded his sister from Serilingampally as an independent candidate to ensure that she eats into the votes of Congress’s Bhikshapati Yadav, if not defeat him altogether,” an analyst said. While her winning the assembly seat is far fetched, sources said Vijaya, riding on PJR’s name, would at least manage to secure 10 to 20 per cent votes in the constituency. In fact, Congress candidate Bhikshapati Yadav, who had fallen out with PJR after being denied a second term as Serilingampally municipality chairman, is believed to have approached Vishnuvardhan to convince him to withdraw his sister’s candidature, but to no avail. “When I went to his house to discuss the matter, he (Vishnu) did not even come out to see me. That boy has no respect for elders. He is ill-mannered and, therefore, not liked by too many people. The sister is amateurish. Apart from being PJR’s daughter what are her credentials that can help her put up a fight against me? I think Vishnu is only further straining relations within the party by doing something like this,’’ said Yadav. Some analysts think that Vishnu might try to play some tricks in Khairatabad too by telling section of his father’s supporters to keep away from the elections. However, Congress candidate Danam Nagendar is a past master in politics himself. Vishnu could not be contacted for comments.