YSR Congress Party

The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP or YCP; ) is an Indian regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Its president, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, serves as the state's chief minister. It is currently the fifth largest party in the Lok Sabha with 22 seats. Origins After the sudden death of the then-incumbent Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) in a helicopter crash in September 2009, his son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the incumbent MP from Kadapa, started an Odarpu Yatra (condolence tour) across Andhra Pradesh, to console the families of those who had committed suicide or died of shock after the death of his father. This tour was not supported by the Congress leadership. Defying the Congress Working Committee's order to call off the tour, Jagan went ahead with the first leg of the "Odarpu Yatra" in the West Godavari and Khammam districts in April 2010. Meanwhile, Sakshi TV news channel and Sakshi newspaper, which are closely affiliated with YSR and Jagan, had been continuously criticizing the new Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah and the Congress leadership at New Delhi. In a special programme on Sakshi TV to mark the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Congress party, a voice-over made remarks on Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the "current state of affairs" in the State, which invited anger and protests from the Congress loyalists and increased the gap and friction between Jagan and the Congress loyalists. The channel later deleted those remarks in a re-telecast. After accusing the Congress of ill-treating him and creating rift in his family by luring his uncle Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy (younger brother of YSR) with a state ministerial berth in the aftermath of the death of his father, Jagan and his mother Y. S. Vijayamma resigned from the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies respectively and also as members of the Congress in November 2010. Many Congress leaders loyal to Jagan also quit the Congress and joined the YSR Congress. This resulted in the weakening of the Congress's strength in both the assembly and the Lok Sabha, necessitating by-elections.