YSR Congress Party President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's diplomatic
stand on the Telangana issue has, predictably, "offended" protagonists of the Telangana movement.
Jagan had said he would abide by whatever decision the Centre makes on Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation, and that he also respects the Telangana sentiment.
Naturally, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, a party whose workers are known to attack private property in order to bully people into agreeing with its philosophy of separate statehood for Telangana, has been among the first to react.
The TRS' Harish Rao has called Jagan a "Gopi" (Telangana slang derived from "Godameeda Pilli", literally, "a cat on the wall"). He said that Jagan said the same thing that TDP President Chandrababu Naidu did. Suspended TDP leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy, too, criticized Jagan's stand.
And in Osmania University, Jagan's effigy was burnt by agitators who demanded that the politician "make his stand on Telangana clear".
However, Jagan loyalist Konda Surekha, who blatantly wears multiple political loyalties on her sleeve - she is a member of the Congress, has resigned from her MLA post to show her support for Telangana, and has also attended Jagan's plenary - has come out in support of her leader's statement.
She said there was nothing wrong in Jagan taking a spectator's stand, since it is not he who would actually form a separate state should there be a Central decision to bifurcate AP.