Congress legislators loyal to Jagan plan to quit

HYDERABAD: Furious over searches by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the premises of YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, ruling Congress party legislators in Andhra Pradesh loyal to him are planning to quit.At least 10 members of the state assembly loyal to the son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy held an emergency meeting here Friday even as CBI continued, for the second day, its searches at the properties of Jaganmohan Reddy and companies which invested in his businesses.The CBI, on the direction of Andhra Pradesh High Court, is probing the alleged illegal assets of Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popularly known.The meeting reviewed the situation arising out of the searches. Congress legislator and former minister P. Subhashchandra Bose told reporters that no decision was taken on resignations. He said the legislators would take a collective decision.Since Jagan is on a visit to Krishna district, the leaders felt that they should wait for his return and take a decision after consulting him.About two dozen legislators of Congress party had been supporting the young leader ever since he quit the party in November last year and floated the YSR Congress. However, the number of his loyalists is believed to have dwindled after the Chiranjeevi-headed Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) merged with the Congress and the latter threatened to take action against rebels.Congress has 155 members in 294-member assembly but the merger of PRP, which has 18 legislators, has ensured that it will survive in case of any threat from the Jagan group.Meanwhile, former minister and Congress legislator B. Srinivas Reddy and other leaders of YSR party called on Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and demanded that a CBI probe be ordered against all those ministers who served in the cabinet of late Rajasekhara Reddy.Srinivas Reddy said since YSR is being accused of showing favours to companies which invested in Jagan's firm, the CBI probe should also cover the ministers as the cabinet had taken collective decisions in allotting lands, mining licences and providing other incentives to the companies.Reacting to this, state Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana said the ministers were not afraid of a CBI probe."Only those who have done something wrong will fear. Nobody is afraid of investigations," said Satyanarayana, who too had served as minister in YSR cabinet from 2004 to 2009.