Results due to sympathy for YSR's family: Ponguleti

All India Congress Committee secretary Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Friday attributed the victory of YSR Congress Party candidates YS Jaganmohan Reddy and YS Vijayalakshmi due to a sympathy wave among voters for the family of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash.

Talking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan following the revelation that his party candidates, DL Ravindra Reddy and YS Vivekananda Reddy, have lost heavily in the by-elections, Mr Sudhakar Reddy said that the people of Kadapa voted for the YSR Congress candidates since the memory of Dr Rajasekhara Reddy was fresh in their minds and they sympathized with the late leader’s family members.

However, the AICC secretary conveniently omitted making a reference to Mr YS Vivekananda Reddy, who is Dr YSR’s brother.

 “The sympathy sentiment has played a major role in the by-elections and people of the constituency voted for Dr YSR’s family members, electing them with huge margins,” he stated.

Mr Sudhakar Reddy also took the opportunity to scoff at speculations that the outcome of the by-elections would have an impact on the government. “There is no threat to the state government and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will complete his term,” he said.

The AICC secretary added that the Congress party will respect the voters’ verdict and take it as a lesson. “We will rectify our mistakes and study where we went wrong,” said he.