New Delhi: Amid a battle over late YSR`s legacy in Andhra Pradesh, a prominent Congress leader from the state on Saturday made a strong pitch for the party projecting the image of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to shake off the challenge posed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
Senior Rajya Sabha MP V Hanumantha Rao, a loyalist of the Gandhi-Nehru family, said he does not subscribe to the view that Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the lone factor that led to the Congress` victory in 2004 and 2009.
Rao also dismissed suggestions that the Congress was targeting late YSR`s son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who has now launched his own outfit, saying the CBI has registered a case against him on the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
"Who says, we are defaming Y S Rajasekhara Reddy? We are not doing anything. The case against his son was filed on the orders of the High Court. The party has nothing to do with this," he told reporters here.
Rao said, though YSR was one of the factors that led to the party`s victory in the state in 2004 and 2009 but the "main factors" were the programmes implemented by the Congress Government and the image of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"YSR did not do it alone. He had the support of the party and the Centre. That is, why he was able to implement the projects. He had the full support of the Congress President.
He is not the only factor," he said.
Rao suggested that the Congress MLAs in the state should be asked, whether the party should continue to claim the legacy of late YSR.
"In 2014 elections, we should go to the people and ask votes in the name of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. We have to do that," he said.
The remarks assume significance as they come days after Congress sought to reclaim YSR`s legacy, when several of its leaders were in full attendance at a function to release a pictorial book on the late leader.
PTI
