YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to be re-elected YSR Congress chief on July 9

Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will be re-elected, this time possibly for a lifetime, as president of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress (YSRC) on Saturday. The election will take place this afternoon – on the concluding day of the YSRC’s two-day plenary – after the party constitution is amended to enable Jagan’s election as president for a lifetime. Jagan established the YSRC in March 2011 after quitting the Congress. Ever since, he has been continuing as the party president, with his mother Vijayamma as honorary president. Jagan was last elected the YSRC president at the party plenary in 2017.

Vijayamma resigned from the honorary president’s post on Friday, reportedly due to an ongoing rift in the family, but she said she was quitting the YSRC to stand by her daughter Sharmila, who is now heading the YSR Telangana party in the neighbouring state.

Upon amending its constitution, the YSRC will have to seek the Election Commission of India’s nod to let Jagan be the party chief for life. The YSRC is citing some precedents wherein certain regional parties in other states secured the ECI’s approval to have a president for a lifetime without the need for conducting elections every two years. After his election as party president, Jagan is expected to constitute a new committee for the YSRC, leading to the general election due in 2024.