Former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday received a shot in the arm in Krishna district after Congress MLA from Machilipatnam constituency, Perni Venkatramaiah, popularly known as Nani, announced his support to his yet-to-be-launched party.
The announcement by Nani came after consultations with his supporters on whether to remain in the Congress party, or to join the son of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Speaking to media persons after a meeting with his supporters, Nani said that his followers were of the opinion that it would be better to be part of Jaganmohan Reddy's new party.
Nani said that he would respect his supporters' decision and join the new party.
Earlier, Nani had called a meeting of his supporters after coming under increasing pressure from them to quit the Congress party and join the young leader.
According to sources, Nani will tender his resignations from both the Congress membership and the Assembly soon.
Meanwhile, there is intense media speculation that other Congress leaders like former Jaggaiahpeta MLA Udaya Bhanu, former Nuzivedu MLA Pratap Appa Rao, former Mylavaram MLA Joggi Ramesh and former Vijayawada (West) MLA Jaleel Khan, along with former ZP Chairman Nageswara Rao will also follow Nani's example, and join the Jagan camp.
Another report coming in says that the Pradesh Congress Committee has directed the minister-in-charge of the district K Parthasarathi to convince these leaders not to quit the party.
Parthasarathi has also been told to keep other potential deserters happy in the district where political awareness levels are seen to be very high.