Jaganmohan Reddy begins defiant yatra

Hyderabad, July 8 (ANI): Congress MP and the son of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, Jaganmohan Reddy began his Odarpu yatra on Thursday, to honour his father's memory, from Srikakulam, despite the opposition of his party.

He started his tour of two districts Srikakulam and East Godavari from Icchapuram.he ostensible purpose of the yatra was to console the families of the people who died out of shock after YSR's death.

Earlier, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked him to call off the yatra after one of his earlier tours to Mahabubnagar had resulted in large-scale violence triggered by Telangana activists.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah has made known his unhappiness about the tour.

"He (Jaganmohan) knows that the high command is not in favour of his tour. If he still wants to make use of his freedom, he can. A few MLAs and MPs sought my suggestion on their participation. I told them since the high command is not in favour of the tour they too should stay away from it," Rosaiah said.

But, in an open letter he said that Sonia Gandhi wanted him to call all the affected families to one place and console them.

"But, I promised the people that I would visit them personally," he added. (ANI)