Jagan's Tainted Image Keeps Delhi Leaders at Bay

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was desparate to garner support from the leaders of all the opposition parties, made a four-day trip to the national capital. But during this trip, he failed to garner any support, the sources said.

As per the sources, YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy failed to impress the national leaders that he was being politically targeted by the CBI. In particular, the two national parties, Congress and BJP, were unmoved by his gestures and pleas. Even though Jagan could get an audience with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday on the pretext of presenting a memorandum on farmers' issues, he failed to convince opposition leader Sushma Swaraj to grant him an appointment.

Even, leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Laloo Prasad Yadav and Farooq Abdullah, all of whom Jagan had managed to meet, were cautious enough not to reveal anything to the media regarding their meetings since Jagan is facing charges of corruption in the state. Also, the MPs who are his late father YSR’s protégés did not meet him reportedly due to his 'tainted' image. "Jagan may talk about lack of evidence and political vendetta in the CBI case but many in the party, including some of his loyalists are convinced that his meteoric rise in the business is something to do with his father's position as the chief minister," said a Congress MP.

Jagan even talked about offering support to the UPA government in future also, but that too did not create much flutter in Delhi, say the sources. Some MPs who are in touch with party general secretary Rahul Gandhi said Jagan's BJP connections were well known to the high command. In the letters he circulated to political leaders in Delhi, he charged the Congress with launching a political witch hunt against him after YSR's death. While his mother Vijayalakshmi equated Jagan's case with Bofors and asked why Congress president Sonia Gandhi's house was not searched and why were the family members not questioned by the CBI, the Kadapa MP criticised the PM in the 2G spectrum case. "In this background, is it not possible to take his offer of surrender seriously," said Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki Goud.
 

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.