No matter what the Congress does from now on, the arrest of YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy by the Central Bureau of Investigation will always be seen as a political move, and not as the logical outcome of a criminal investigation in the disproportionate assets case against him. Irrespective of the case's merits, the arrest is popularly perceived as another attempt by a desperate Congress to hit at a growing political rival. Jagan is no saint, and there is little evidence to suggest the CBI is engaging in a witch hunt at the behest of its political masters. But the prevailing political circumstances, and the manner in which events have played out over the last few months, have left the Congress looking like a petty schemer, and a big bully. A huge part of the problem is with the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. From the time the Telangana agitation began, the government seemed directionless, swaying to the mood of the day. The crisis in governance that followed the agitation was compounded by a crisis in political management. The Kiran Kumar Reddy government, unable to think through the T-tangle, did not inspire confidence even among Congress MLAs from the region. All that the Congress managed to do was lure the Praja Rajyam led by actor Chiranjeevi. As the YSR Congress gained ground, and began to attract several of its MLAs, the Congress was under pressure to staunch the exodus. Whether it actively intervened in the case is a moot point. What is indisputable is that the entity most likely to gain in the short-term from Jagan's legal troubles is the Congress.
Although the CBI began investigating Jagan's assets on the directions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the case owes its origins to a petition filed by a Congress MLA, P. Shankar Rao. The irregularities cited involved decisions taken by the Congress government led by Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Jagan's father. There is no way the party can credibly distance itself from these irregularities; indeed, some serving Ministers have already been questioned by the CBI over their role in the issue of controversial government orders under the YSR regime. But all the same, Jagan was the immediate threat that needed to be neutralised, and the Congress would not lose sleep over having lost a few pawns in the high-stakes game. Whether the party can prevent the YSR Congress from whipping up sympathy for Jagan in the by-elections to one Lok Sabha seat and 18 Assembly seats next month is what matters. Legal troubles, sometimes, have a way of morphing into political gains. If the Congress is to effectively meet the Jagan challenge, it will have to do so politically, and not through the disproportionate use of investigative assets.
