UPA Woos Y S Jagan For Pranab's Candidature

Numbers speak for themselves in politics. Being considered a non-entity in politics till recently, the YSR Congress party has now registered its importance at the national level, by winning 15 out of 18 Assembly seats in the by-elections.

Giving rise to speculations on its future relations with the new power centre in the state, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, on Monday, formally started making efforts to woo the Kadapa MP, YSRCP president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The UPA's representative, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, on Tuesday, met Jaganmohan Reddy in Chanchalguda Central Prison, seeking his party's support for the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential elections to be held in July.

"I have requested him that his party should support the candidature of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, and that he should not align with the NDA as the NDA has a communal ideology," Asaduddin Owaisi told reporters after meeting Jagan for about 20 minutes in Chanchalguda prison.

"He told me that he will definitely keep this in mind, and said that he would to take a decision on this issue," he said.

However, Owaisi clarified that his meeting with Jagan should not be viewed differently.

"I've come to meet my friend and colleague Jaganmohan Reddy. Earlier, I could not meet him because of the elections, and the CBI had his custody. Now I have met him, and gave him my best wishes," he said.

Without being specific, the MIM president also clarified that his party was not trying to support Jagan, or that it wants the fall of the present government.

"The mandate of the people for the present Assembly is till 2014. We hope that this Assembly continues till 2014," he said.

However, he said he should not be blamed if any goes wrong due to other external factors.

"I hope that the mandate which people have given lasts till 2014," he said. (INN)