New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Monday defended his controversial rally that triggered violence in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh and said it was for his father, the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash last year.
‘Whatever I’m doing is for my father. I’m sure the Congress president will understand my point,’ the Kadapa MP, known as Jagan, told reporters here.
The son of the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, who reached the national capital Sunday to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, has sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders, said party sources.
The central leadership of the party had asked him not to conduct the rally in Telangana in view of the tension prevailing there over the separate statehood issue.
Senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had Saturday asked Jagan to call off his rally.
Defying the directive, Jagan embarked on the rally May 28, triggering violence between his supporters and opponents as he was taken into preventive custody while on his way to Mahbubabad in Warangal district.
Jagan reiterated that the rally was to console family members of those who committed suicide or died of shock following the death of his father, then chief minister, in a helicopter crash last year.
