By Sushil Kutty
A sibling rivalry and a mother’s appeal to be true to a father’s legacy. Then, there’s a Chief Minister out to make hay from the family feud. Then, his Deputy Chief Minister applauds another state’s Chief Minister and asks his state’s Home Minister to adopt this CM’s model to drive crime underground; that he would do it if he’s “Home Minister”. All of this when ‘Batenge toh katenge’ is top of the mind everywhere.
The two states, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The two siblings, former AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister YS Sharmila, who is the Andhra Pradesh Congress Chief, never shy of taking her brother to task. It may sound like settling scores but the mother stands with the daughter while the son is an answer on his own.
YS Vijayamma is the widow of the late Congress Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy. And in this battle of the ‘YS’, a blockbuster of a film can be made to cater to both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, two Telugu-speaking states, where politics and movies run together,
Vijayamma released an emotional letter on October 29, 2024, asking Jagan Mohan Reddy to honour his father’s promise to equally divide inherited wealth. It shouldn’t have been in the public domain but Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took to ‘X’ and now the sibling-squabbling is out for everybody to comment.
Jagan and Sharmila are both political rivals of CM Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and they represent YSRCP and the Congress respectively. The media says “the feud revolves around valuable assets” including shares, and property. This is about a family which once stood unified behind Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in 2009. The family is now a prime example of “unify when convenient, divide when profitable,” which sounds like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Batenge toh katenge’.
Y S Vijayamma is convinced ‘Batenge toh katenge’ is where the YSR-family is headed for if the brother-sister duo don’t pull back from the brink of the purgatory. Somewhat like where Andhra Pradesh would be if crimes like murder and rape aren’t stopped forthwith. Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan is convinced the Yogi model is the solution. And he told this to Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, saying things “would be different” if he was the Home Minister!
Kalyan asked his government to deal with crimes like Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath does; pitching for “stricter and harsher punishments”, like in Dubai and Singapore. “These criminals should be dealt with in the same fashion as Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. Until then they will not listen. You are pushing us into that kind of situation.” Are Pawan Kalyan and Chandrababu Naidu divided on the issue of controlling crime?
“These criminals should be dealt with in the same fashion as Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. Until then they will not listen. You are pushing us into that kind of situation. I am telling Home Minister Anitha, you are the Home Minister…Please take on the responsibilities of the Home ministry. If I take up the Home portfolio, things will be different; remember that,” Pawan Kalyan said.
Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan holds Panchayat Raj, Forest, and Environment portfolios but wants the Home portfolio. It appears like Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu doesn’t think Kalyan should have that kind of clout. So, there are differences in Andhra Pradesh’s ruling coalition, of which BJP is also part. And Pawan Kalyan is “more BJP” and “a little less TDP”.
All this when Jagan Reddy is fighting accusations of betraying his father’s legacy and Naidu is muddying the YSR waters for political profit. And Pawan Kalyan is going ahead with his ‘Hindutva agenda’, which includes a Bajrang Dal-like ‘Hindu sena’ and a ‘Santana Dharma Board’. Pawan Kalyan says the Yogi Adityanath model of justice delivery is the best for Andhra Pradesh and for India.
Pawan Kalyan says “if I was Andhra Pradesh Home Minister”, which sounds like a dog-whistle to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. But with the YSRCP and the Congress caught in a family feud, Pawan Kalyan’s call for applying the Yogi Model of controlling crime in Andhra Pradesh is going unchallenged in Andhra Pradesh. The reactions have come from Uttar Pradesh. “Let him resign and come to Uttar Pradesh, what does he know about Uttar Pradesh?” asked a Samajwadi Party leader, miffed that Yogi Adityanath is finding resonance in Andhra Pradesh.
The question now is, will the brother-sister duo get out of their feuding roles and take on the ruling coalition politically as they should? YS Sharmila and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy should know that ‘Batenge toh katenge’ applies to them, too. Their feuding is dividing the state’s Opposition and allowing the TDP, BJP and Janasena a freehand in Andhra Pradesh.
If anything, the YS-siblings should take a cue from ‘Batenge toh katenge’ and together flay the Yogi model of controlling crime – bulldozer action and half-encounter et al – as advocated by Pawan Kalyan. The thing to worry is that there is no Opposition worth its salt in Andhra Pradesh. Both Chief Minister Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan can pretty much do whatever they want to. Like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who “has developed a pattern”, much like Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh.
Whether it is Vijayamma, Sharmila or Jagan Reddy, the family feud has cut them off from the goings on in the state. Jagan Reddy’s inaction and Sharmila’s equally lazy role have left the field open for the ruling coalition. YS Rajashekhar Reddy would have taken a whip to them if he was still alive.
In fact, the two should learn from Pawan Kalyan, who refuses to be distracted by what Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is doing or not doing. It is criminal that YSRCP is nowhere in the present and the state Congress unit isn’t heard of. Vijayamma blames Jagan for changing his stance and Jagan talks of Sharmila exploiting his “goodwill” and “no love left” between them.
Sharmila’s loyalty is to her “father’s principles” and Jagan Reddy and YS Sharmila are victims of ‘Batenge toh katenge”, and stand charged with “unify when convenient, divide when profitable.” (IPA S
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