Jaganmohan Reddy begins 48-hour hunger strike

VIJAYWADA - Following Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu, former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday launched his 48-hour ‘Lakshya Deeksha’, hunger-strike for farmers.

Jagan, who also celebrated his 37th birthday today, launched the hunger-strike demanding adequate compensation to farmers who lost their crops in heavy rains early this month in the state.

Several MLAs, MLCs, former legislators and some film stars extended support to Jagan.

Earlier, he held a closed-door meeting with the legislators at the state guest house.

MLAs Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Jayasudha Kapoor, G Srikanth Reddy, Konda Surekha, Alla Nani, N Prasanna Kumar Reddy, Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar Reddy, Gurunatha Reddy, Ramachandra Reddy, MLCs Pulla Padmavathi, Konda Murali, Jupudi Prabhakar, actress Roja, actors Vijayachander, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, former minister Konatala Ramakrishna, NTRs widow Lakshmi Parvathi and others were present on the dais along with Jagan.

According to sources, Jagan is all set to launch his political party in mid-February and this campaign is seen as a step to woo the farming community, which can help him in the general elections.

With farmer suicides due to crop loss having crossed the dozen mark, it is being touted as one of the first political challenges for the new Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who for now has refused to increase the Rs 910 crore relief package citing resource unavailability. (ANI)