V. Vijay Sai Reddy (VSR), a confidant of former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, resigned from his Rajya Sabha membership on Friday (January 24) evening. He tendered his resignation to Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who accepted it.
In a press conference after meeting the vice-president, VSR clarified that he is quitting politics for good and that he had explained his reasons for resigning and quitting to Jagan, who apparently advised him not to do so.
VSR, a chartered accountant by profession, still had three-and-a-half years left in his second six-year term. This means the vacant seat is expected to go to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Andhra Pradesh given their overwhelming majority. VSR is the fourth Rajya Sabha member from the YSRCP to resign after their 2024 rout. M. Venkataramana, B. Masthan Rao, and R. Krishnaiah resigned in the recent past, with the former two joining the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and retaining their membership.
Krishnaiah, a prominent leader of the combined front of various backward castes (BC) welfare associations and organisations in the Telugu states, who wields significant electoral clout, has chosen to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This should be seen as part of the BJP’s tested strategy of social engineering and outreach to the BC communities, who have traditionally been considered the “backbone of the TDP”.
Political reactions
While there is no response from Jagan, who is currently away on a trip to London to attend his daughter’s graduation day, party leaders like M. Gurumoorthy remained optimistic that VSR would reconsider his resignation and made an appeal to him. VSR on his part responded positively, saying he would “think and talk about it.”
Other YSRCP leaders, including K. Govardhan Reddy and Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy, highlighted VSR’s contributions to the party while criticising the pressure exerted by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP), as well as the alleged misuse of central investigation agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to target him over corruption allegations and pending criminal cases.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president and Jagan’s sister Y.S. Sharmila, who has been at loggerheads with her brother over property disputes, pointed out that the resignation of VSR, whom she described as a close associate of Jagan who would “assail anyone Jagan wanted to assail,” is no ordinary development. She appealed to YSRCP activists and her father and former chief minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s fans to reflect on “why VSR ditched Jagan and why is one associate after another deserting him?,” adding that Jagan has lost credibility as a leader.
TDP leader Ganta Srinivasa Rao blamed Jagan’s attitude for VSR’s resignation, which Rao claimed he read with “mixed feelings”.
“VSR is a close aide of the former chief minister, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He has also been jailed along with Jagan Mohan Reddy for the crimes committed by them. His resignation reflects the sorry state of affairs in the YSRCP,” the TDP leader said, terming the YSRCP a sinking ship.
Who is Vijay Sai Reddy?
VSR has been a close confidant of Jagan and his family since even before the inception of the YSRCP. He was a co-accused (A2, with Jagan being A1) in the long-pending disproportionate assets cases against Jagan and has even spent many months in jail along with him. Given this, speculation is rife that VSR might turn approver in multiple criminal cases of alleged financial wrongdoings by Jagan.
During Jagan’s tenure from 2019 to 2024, VSR served as both the general secretary of the party and the in-charge of the North Andhra division, operating from Visakhapatnam. He has been accused of land grabbing and corruption. These allegations intensified after Jagan announced Visakhapatnam as the to-be executive capital of the state, when he was accused of acquiring government lands at throwaway prices and selling them at exorbitant prices. Moreover, he is accused of facilitating the transfer of 1,500 acres of commercial land in Madhurawada to a relative.
VSR also faces allegations that his family members – particularly his daughter and son-in-law – intimidated local residents near Bhogapuram Greenfield Road. They allegedly purchased land at inflated prices following changes to the road’s alignment. Very recently, his name came up in allegations of criminal intimidation to force the strategic sale of shares and thus ownership and illegal land dealings in relation to the Kakinada port. VSR has also faced some isolation within the party. Leaders like Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy have grown in stature, threatening VSR’s clout within the party.
Political fallout
For the YSRCP, this resignation will only have a symbolic effect because VSR was never a mass leader who could bring in votes. While VSR’s departure might aid Jagan’s opponents to fuel the narratives of the beginning of the end of a corrupt Jagan and his party, the traditional vote bank of the YSRCP – which comprises Scheduled Castes (mostly Malas), Scheduled Tribes, Reddys, MBCs and EBCs, and minorities – will most likely remain intact. Traditional upper-caste voting that the party shared with the Congress seems to have shifted to the TDP since Naidu’s neoliberal economic policies during the turn of the millennium.
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What the YSRCP might miss is VSR’s sharp tongue and quick wit when it came to taking on opponents, primarily the TDP and Naidu and his son N. Lokesh, especially on social media, which might have come in handy at building partisan narratives.
In a post on X, while announcing his resignation, VSR thanked Jagan and his wife for their support and also thanked Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and curiously referred to JSP president Pawan Kalyan as a lifelong friend. He also mentioned Naidu, adding that he had nothing personally against him or his family and his criticism was merely “political”.
Many have read much into this post, speculating that sooner or later VSR will join hands with the BJP. If he does, VSR may effectively bolster and promote the BJP’s Hindutva narratives, particularly among impressionable youth on social media, using his sharp rhetoric.
In electoral terms, his resignation has provided the NDA with an opportunity to offer a Rajya Sabha seat to K. Chiranjeevi, a film actor, former minister of state for tourism in the UPA-2 government, and brother of deputy chief minister Kalyan. Chiranjeevi, also known as a mega star of Tollywood, had floated his own party, the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), in 2008 based on the principle of social justice but later merged it with the Congress party despite PRP’s decent performance in the 2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative elections.
Chiranjeevi, who had been inactive in politics since 2014, has been increasingly aligning himself with the BJP, particularly after his brother Pawan Kalyan formed an alliance with the party. Much bonhomie was seen during his publicized meeting with Prime Minister Modi. He even attended the inauguration of the disputed Ayodhya Ram Mandir last year along with his entire family.
More recently, he was the special guest along with Modi at the Sankranti celebration at Union minister Kishan Reddy’s house in New Delhi. Other attendees included film personalities like actor Teja Sajja (who starred in the movie Hanuman), singer Sunitha and others, who have in the recent years specifically made movies glorifying Hindu gods, culture, and myths.
In fact, Chiranjeevi, in the lead-up to the 2024 general elections, even did a “friendly” interview, akin to the one Akshay Kumar did with Modi in the lead-up to the 2019 general elections, with BJP minister Kishan Reddy. Moreover, Chiranjeevi’s third brother, K. Nagababu, has consistently made communal statements to the extent of valorising Godse and Savarkar as the “real” patriots. He is all set to be nominated as the 25th cabinet minister in Andhra Pradesh.
While VSR has so far maintained that he is planning to spend his time “giving talks in universities” and “doing agriculture,” recent political history suggests things could be much more fluid. We have seen many leaders in the past who have made comeback in the name of “appeals by their well-wishers and supporters,” “development,” “duty to the nation,” “contributing to society,” and such.
Moreover, VSR has never been averse to the BJP. The YSRCP, along with the TDP, has tried to curry favour with the BJP ever since Modi’s comeback in 2019, and both parties have supported the BJP on all major bills in parliament despite not being officially part of the NDA. In this process, VSR has not only spoken in favour of the BJP but also taken on the Congress and Nehru, especially in the Rajya Sabha during the discussion of Jammu and Kashmir.
Boosting BJP’s Rajya Sabha numbers
Over the past decade, critics have accused the BJP and its central leadership under Modi of using investigative agencies like the ED, CBI, and the Income Tax Department as tools to exert political influence. This “washing machine” strategy, they argue, is designed to coerce Opposition leaders into either aligning with the BJP or facing relentless legal challenges. And this strategy has been particularly effective in boosting their numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where the party does not have a majority on its own.
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In 2019, four TDP Rajya Sabha members – Y. Sujana Chowdary, C.M. Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao, and T.G. Venkatesh – all facing corruption and criminal charges, quit the party and joined the BJP. In the same year, Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Samajwadi Party (SP) after his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, resigned from his membership and joined the BJP. In September last year, two Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs, Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, both resigned from their Rajya Sabha membership after the party’s loss in the legislative elections and joined the BJP.
The BJP currently has 98 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Though the NDA, with 118 members, has already crossed the majority mark with the help of two independents and six nominated members. Meanwhile, Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, a co-accused in Jagan’s disproportionate assets case, YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP, and chairman of the Ramky Group, who is also considered a key financier of Jagan’s political campaign, has announced that he will resign once he returns to India soon. The political situation in Andhra Pradesh is very fluid right now.
