Call it faux pas or by any other name of the Congress party high command, especially Sonia Gandhi. Crisis in the ruling Congress party likely to deepen further with as many as 40-50 MLAs who vow their allegiance to the late leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, are all set to cross over to YSR Congress in couple of days, well before the June 12 by-elections to 18 assembly and lone Nellore Lok Sabha constituency.

Sources close to YSR Congress President and Kadapa MP, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is languishing in the Chanchalguda prison after being arrested in disproportionate case, though either refuse or confirm the number of Congress MLAs deserting to their party, admit that many Congress as well TDP MLAs had been expressing their solidarity in private and promising to join the party sooner than later. “Why from the Congress, you will surprise to see more than 20-30 TDP MLAs joining our party in coming days,” he boasts of.

Thus far, the Congress and TDP are worried lot today as their ‘game plan’ to curtail Jagan’s juggernaut by putting him behind bars, boomeranged on them and their nominees rout in the by-elections, now almost confirmed. The argument of those who wanted to cross over from either Congress or TDP is that people at large in the state are convinced that the CBI probe is nothing but political vendetta. People could see through the Cong-TDP conspiracy to malign Jagan as they run short of political counter-strategies to prevent his surging popularity.

“That people are with YSRC as lakhs of them were beneficiaries of late YSR schemes like ‘pavala vaddi’, ‘old age pension’, “free power supply to agriculture sector’, ‘Indiramma kranti padakam’ and ‘educational scholarships to BC students’, to name a few. Whether in the bargain, the late Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, had helped his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, or not appears no issue today. “Today, we feel deprived of those welfare schemes and YSR successors either abandoned most of them partially or fully,” is the feeling of aam admi on sadak.

Since 2009 polls, the Congress as well the TDP failed to win not even a single seat in the by-polls that held for variety of reasons. Contrary to this, the separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and YSRC are the only parties which won with hands down, besides couple of independents. While the Congress lacks a ‘charismatic’ leader of later YSR caliber, then the TDP lost ‘credibility’ among the electorate – whether on T-issue or welfare schemes. People of the state are well aware of nine year TDP rule under the stewardship of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who spent most of his energies on promoting IT-related development, ignoring key sectors for growth engine like Irrigation, Power and Agriculture.

Contrary to these two parties, the YSRC enjoys people support as they genuinely believe that, if that party voted to power under Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s leadership, he will fulfill the promise to revive all those welfare schemes. That the Jagan enjoys more credibility than either the Congress or the TDP leadership is evident from the way 18 rebel Congress MLAs stood by him during the ‘trust vote’ in the assembly.

Having said that there is every reason to see and believe even the ‘pendulum of trust factor’ clinging towards the young leader amongst the rank and file of both the Congress as well TDP. Both these party cadres seem realized the fact that their leadership lack to give convincing directions to them. It is now more than evident that the people of the state are looking at the young as new messiah on state political arena.

Yet, doubting Thomas’s may same that unprecedented crowds that Jagan had drawn during his election campaign or his mother and Pulivendula MLA, Vijayamma drawing now may not be converted as votes, certainly going to get a stunning reply as result in the assembly by-polls to 18 assembly constituency and one Lok Sabha scheduled on June 12. By and large almost all media surveys, including anti-YSR media admit that YSR Congress party nominees hold upper hand by bagging (read retaining 14 of the 18 assembly constituencies as well the lone Lok Sabha.

Doesn’t that sufficient to wake up the Congress and TDP, who joined hands to ‘eliminate’ the young leader politically to redress people’s problems rather than ‘repeat the same old lies regarding Jagan’s publications? People pray better wisdom prevail on the Congress and its high command, besides the TDP, which forfeited its responsibility to play the real ‘watch dog’ and come up with concrete welfare schemes programmes which might help lure people towards them.

God alone can save these two parties1