on born leaders

The Congress is worried that if it chooses Jaganmohan Reddy as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the Opposition may get a chance to bring corruption charges against him, which will damage the party in the long run.

jaganmohan reddy wasn't a big businessman before his father became the chief minister in 2004. ahmed ali shaik of ibn says:

Jagan started a power plant in Karnataka in June 2001 with an investment of about Rs.30 crore. Jagan claimed that the plant became almost operational even before his father became chief minister in May 2004. But his career took an upward turn after YSR became the Chief Minister. Jagan floated several subsidiary companies like Caramel Asia, Raghuram Cements, Jagathi Publications and Indira Television. Whenever he needed money, he floated a subsidiary company; allocated shares of that company at a premium to big corporates and raised several hundred crores.

In a very short time, he achieved what others failed to achieve in over three decades. He started a Telugu newspaper and from the day one itself he had 24 editions and is now reportedly selling over one million copies daily. On Feb.24, he also launched a 24-hour Telugu news channel. In less than four years, he has set up businesses in many states in the country and operates in energy, infrastructure, real estate, cement, media and other sectors. Presently, all his businesses put together are worth nearly Rs.20, 000 crore.

as ali observes, jagan mohan reddy became so successful after his father became chief minister that his worth has increased by over 200 times in less than five years.

this is what i find funny: while jaganmohan reddy was growing 200 times in less than five years, in full public eye, liberal media in india was churning out reams and reams of print on how mayawati was wasting, in their view, a few hundred crores of public money on public parks which in her view were for the public good. you've every right to dispute her idea of public good, but consider a couple of issues first: everything that mayawati spent would be checked and rechecked by publicly appointed auditors and her government would have to account for every paisa. and the public will reject her in the next elections if their idea of public good doesn't match hers. two, if the nregs which focuses on creating work, digging-trenches-and-filling-trenches kind of work basically, for the poor without focussing much on building assets is an acceptable public works programme, as projected by the neo-keynesians among the ruling classes, why are mayawati's parks, which also provide employment and create real assets (unlike the nregs), less so?

coming back to jaganmohan reddy, ali also notices the media's disinterest in him:

You may be surprised as to how this story of unprecedented success was never reported by any of the business newspapers and channels in the last few years. Surprisingly, this young gentleman never wanted publicity for his success. Infact, he was never accessible to the media. He never spoke to the media about his business plans nor did he make his achievements public.

well, mayawati doesn't seek the media's attention much either, but for entirely different reasons- from her first, very short, term in office until now, the media had always looked at her with unrelenting suspicion, smelling a scam behind her every action. but jaganmohan reddy was allegedly milking his father's influence, and the state's coffers not-so-indirectly (most of his corporate investors were getting huge contracts from the state government for the irrigation projects, on which nearly 50,000 crores have been spent in the last five years, being built across the state) all this while, building a 20,000 crore empire- how could the media have missed it?

and now the state cabinet has passed a resolution that it wants jaganmohan reddy as the chief minister, most of the mlas have signed a petition to sonia gandhi, congress workers across the state are holding dharnas and generally indulging in a lot of congress-style dramebaazi to tell the public how badly they, the public, want jaganmohan reddy as chief minister.

the state congress president was violently booed out of a condolence meeting that he had convened yesterday because he'd suggested that there could be other aspirants for the post. one of the few backward class leaders in the top echelons of the state congress outfit- what was he thinking? how could he have even thought that he could aspire to be a chief minister in a state that had never seen any backward class minister holding any important portfolio until ntr came to power a couple of decades ago ?

most of the media too is busy manufacturing consent, projecting jaganmohan reddy as the right chief minister. despite the fact that the local media knows more about his shady deals than the uninterested national media. so the state congress president, unless the hindu gods who had ages ago assigned a certain place to people of his kind and the congress high command for its own mysterious reasons together decide otherwise, has very few chances of becoming the chief minister. or making rs.20,000 crores and expecting the media to look the other way.