Vijayasai Reddy blames Sajjala for YSRCP’s decline in A. P.

Former YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP V. Vijayasai Reddy has alleged that YSRCP’s State coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, with the support of some YSRCP leaders from Uttarandhra, had conspired against him by spreading baseless allegations that he was involved in land encroachments and extortion in Visakhapatnam.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayasai said that the allegations were made when he was serving as the YSRCP’s Uttarandhra regional coordinator, and had created a distance between him and former Chief Minister and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He said this eventually led to him distancing himself from the party.

He attributed the YSRCP’s present political decline to the manner in which Mr. Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy was functioning.

Mr. Vijayasai denied having been involved in land encroachments or extortion during his tenure as the YSRCP party’s Uttarandhra regional coordinator.

“All I have in Visakhapatnam is one flat. I do not own even a single piece of land,” he said.

He also clarified that the expansion of pharmaceutical companies belonging to the Aurobindo Group in Uttarandhra had no connection with him. He said that his daughter had married into a family associated with the Aurobindo Group, which, had established nine pharmaceutical companies in Uttarandhra. The companies were set up nearly 25 years ago, well before her marriage. Their subsequent expansion was purely a business activity, he said.

Mr. Vijayasai Reddy further claimed that despite a prominent position in the YSRCP, he had no role in decision-making in the State government or the Chief Minister’s Office during the party’s 2019-24 term. He said that the party had used his services before coming to power, but sidelined him after forming the government. His responsibilities were largely confined to handling the party’s affairs in New Delhi.

Referring to the 2021 Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) elections, he said he had spent his own money and treated the elections as a challenge and responsibility towards his former party. He challenged local YSRCP leaders to demonstrate their ability to secure victory in the forthcoming local body elections.

“The local YSRCP leaders threw me out by making baseless allegations. They have only faked their love for the party. That is why they are suffering,” he alleged.

Mr. Vijayasai Reddy said the political party he was planning to launch would focus primarily on the development of Uttarandhra. Among its proposed initiatives would be the creation of a Uttarandhra Regional Development Authority (URDA) to address issues including migration, water shortages and problems in Uddanam.

He also alleged that religious conversions had increased in certain parts of the Agency areas of Alluri Sitharama Raju district during the previous YSRCP government.

Mr. Vijayasai Reddy announced that he would begin his proposed padayatra from Uttarandhra