Amid a stand-off with Congress leadership, rebel Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today resigned from his Lok Sabha seat and announced his decision to quit the party alleging that the Congress "humiliated" his family and tried to drive a "wedge" in it.
The 37-year-old MP, the son of late Andhra chief minister Y S R Reddy, will soon announce the launch of his new party -- Youth Sramik Ryot (YSR) Congress -- in Kadapa, his Lok Sabha constituency, sources close to him said.
In a five-page 'open letter' to AICC President Sonia Gandhi released this morning, the MP also said his mother Vijayamma, who is an MLA from Pulivendula constituency, would also quit her post and the party.
Jagan faxed his resignation letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, LS sources said in New Delhi. Vijayamma is expected to formally submit her resignation to the Assembly Speaker tomorrow.
Vijayamma was elected to the state Assembly late last year in a bye-election following the death of her husband in a chopper crash on September 2, 2009.
The young leader had been sulking for over a year as the Congress refused to concede his demand for making him Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister after his father's death.
He defied the party high command's directives and went ahead with his controversial 'Odarpu Yatra' in six districts on the premise of consoling families whose members died either of shock or committed suicide in the aftermath of YSR's death.
In reality, however, Jagan utilised the tours to promote himself as the "true political successor" to YSR and project that he alone was the beacon for Congress in Andhra Pradesh, political observers say.
His resignation comes a fortnight after the Sakshi television channel owned by him launched an attack against Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress. The party had expressed strong disapproval of the TV programme but no action was taken against him.
"I am writing this letter with a heavy heart and a deep sense of agony. For the past 14 months, I have been enduring several insults... (and) a bizarre and malicious propaganda against me and my family," Jagan said.
The belligerent MP, in his letter, also accused the Congress leadership of trying to drive a "wedge" in his family by offering to make his uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy, a member of the state Legislative Council, a minister in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh.
"They tried to brand me as being anti-party and drive me out of Congress. They tried to show the news stories telecast on Congress and its leadership with a magnifying lens so as to throw me out of the party.
