Kadapa, Dec 7 : Former Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today announced that he would launch a new political party in Andhra Pradesh in 45 days that would safeguard the "Telugu pride" and "self-esteem".
Days after quitting Congress and Lok Sabha, Jagan, the son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, claimed that the Congress would be "wiped out" in the state in the next three years.
"Our new party will be launched in the next 45 days and it will protect the Telugu pride. Our party flag will fly high on every household across the state," he told his supporters in his hometown Pulivendula near here.
37-year-old Jagan said the entire country was looking forward to the by-elections in Kadapa (Lok Sabha constituency) and Pulivendula (Assembly constituency). The seats were vacated by him and his mother last week.
Jagan had resigned from the Congress and Lok Sabha on Monday last alleging that the party leadership, including Sonia Gandhi, had "insulted and humiliated" his family.
"The by-elections will be a semi-final for us and the 2014 general elections will be the final. If we endure whatever hardships for three more years, we shall get back the golden era of YSR in the subsequent 30 years," Jagan claimed.
"Have no doubt, the Congress will be wiped out in the next three years," he said.
However, Jagan said he would not destabilise the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the state.
"If the Congress is in power both in the state and at the Centre now, it is only because of my late father. But the Congress party split such a great leader's family by playing most bizarre politics," he said.
Jagan said he tried desperately to patch up with his uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy but to no avail.
Jagan said the 'Odarpu' yatra he undertook to console families whose kin died either of shock or committed suicide following his father's tragic death had expanded the gulf between him and the Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi.
"I killed my self-esteem and went to New Delhi to prevail upon the Congress high command to let me undertake the yatra as per the promise I made. Even my mother Vijayalaxmi met Sonia Gandhi and pleaded for the yatra but the pleas fell on deaf ears," Jagan said.
But, Jagan said, he went ahead with the yatra only to "keep my word."
This has increased the chasm between him and Congress and "even a kid understood that I will be sent out of the party," he said.
"On one hand, they tried to drive me out of the party and on the other split my family. Ultimately, I came out of the Congress on my own and all alone," Jagan said.
Jagan held separate meetings with his supporters from several mandals under the Pulivendula Assembly constituency and repeated the same lines in a rather emotional tone.
Kadapa Zilla Parishad chairperson Jyothi Reddy, Jagan's uncle Y S Manohar Reddy and several other kin were on the young leader's side during the meetings. PTI
