Thrust into political limelight after the death of his father YSR in an air crash last year, Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy never hide his ambition to become the CM of Andhra Pradesh, fuelling trouble for both the faction-ridden state Congress Unit and party high command with his defiant attitude.

From a Businessman to a Lok Sabha MP from his family pocketborough of Kadapa, his rise was meteoric -- thanks to his father late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's legacy and his popularity in Andhra Pradesh.

The 37-year-old, who maintained a low profile till his father's death despite becoming an MP, was forced to plunge into active politics by his father's supporters in the party.

Called 'Jagan Anna' by his followers, he drew crowds and used his powerful media, a 24-hour news channel and a mass circulation newspaper, to propagate his views and attack the Rosaiah government that took charge after YSR's death.

Jagan maintained silence till he was told by Sonia Gandhi that she would decide the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in October last year and started embarrassing the high command whenever he got a chance.

A successful businessman who built a media empire in just five years, Jaganmohan wanted instant results. His impatience reflected in his open use of his media to flay the functioning of the Rosaiah government and siding with TDP MPs in Parliament against the formation of a separate Telangana state.

After getting ample hints that the Congress high command is in no mood to anoint him as YSR's successor, Jagan undertook the controversial 'Odarpu Yatra' to console the families of those who died or allegedly committed suicide after hearing the news of the death of his father.

When he decided to tour sensitive Telangana region, the high command asked him not to do so fearing a backlash. But Jagan went ahead with the yatra and reached Mahabubnagar. When violence erupted there, he was forced to return to Hyderabad.

From then, Jagan was defiant and just met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi once after that.

He defied her directives, went ahead with the 'Odarpu Yatra' in July 2010 and has been avoiding Delhi since then.

Just a fortnight ago, his Sakshi channel launched an attack against Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress. The party had expressed strong disapproval of the TV programme but no action was taken against him.

Before entering politics too, Jagan had his fair share of controversies. The allotment of 487 acres of land in March 2007 to Raghuram Cements, which had Jagan as one of its directors, was criticised by Opposition parties.

Jagan tops the list of Taxpayer politicians in 2009-10. He had paid Rs 2.92 lakh tax for the financial year 2008-09 but Rs 6.6 crore advance tax in the first 6 months of this year, projecting a tax outgo of Rs 22 crore with his personal income expected to cross Rs 70 crore in 2009-10.

As he flew back to Hyderabad in the afternoon, Vivekanand Reddy was understood to be carrying a message for the rebellious MP from the party high command.  Highly-placed Congress sources said there was no immediate move to take any disciplinary action against Jagan, not withstanding his attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. 

“As of today, Jagan’s matter has not been referred to the party’s disciplinary committee,” a senior Congress leader said. He said “any more provocation” would force the high command’s hands, noting that “not many can survive in the Congress after attacking the Nehru-Gandhi family”.

According to the Jaganmohan camp, although he was “convinced of his mass support”, he was no longer confident of getting the support of party legislators to bring down the state government. “There are no elections scheduled in the immediate future.

If his rivals in Congress stop needling him and targeting his people, Jagan may prefer a status quo at this point of time,” a close aide of Kadapa MP said.  The aide said the “high command has to ensure there is no witch-hunting against him, like income tax raids against his business associates, cancellation of their mining licences and suspension and expulsion of party office-bearers who support Jaganmohan”. 

The Congress would like the new Chief Minister to settle down and reclaim YSR’s political legacy by aggressively propagating and implementing the welfare schemes launched by him. As per the party’s assessment, any move by the party to act against Jaganmohan at this stage could make him a ‘martyr’.

He is likely to soon announce the launch of his new party -

Youth Sramik Ryot (YSR) Congress - in Kadapa, his Lok Sabha constituency, sources close to him said.

Reacting to Jagan's decision, Union Minister M Veerappa Moily, the AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, termed it "most unfortunate and misguided" but said it would have no effect on the party in Andhra Pradesh.  Rajya Sabha member from Andhra, V Hanumantha Rao, said that Jagan had been given a long rope.

He said that Congress was not scared of anyone and remained a strong party in the state. He also added that Jagan had no future outside the the party and claimed that Chiranjeevi always supported the Congress. 

Jagan has been defying Congress leadership by going on 'Odarpu yatra' (consolation) in six districts of Andhra, reportedly to meet and console the family members of people who committed suicide of died of shock following the death of his father YS Rajashekhar Reddy in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009. 

Sakshi TV, a channel owned by Jagan, has also been very critical of Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party General Seceretary Rahul Gandhi.  In fact a Sakshi TV programme aired on the night of November 25 attributed Congress' debacle in Bihar to Rahul's depleting magic.

He is a Reddy from Rayalaseema, the backbone of Congress in the state and controls the entire Rayalaseema region.  Jagan is young and very popular among the youth. His Odarpu yatra was a huge success.  With Jagan's exit Congress likely to lose majority Reddy votes in the Rayalaseema. 

He also enjoys enormous financial clout and runs a huge media empire. If he launches a new party, it might unseat the Congress. The Congress has 156 MLAs in Andhra Assembly. If 30-40 party MLAs go with Jagan, as he has been claiming, then the Congress government in Andhra will collapse. 

Andhra Assembly has 294 MLAs and the halfway mark is 148. Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyan Party has 18 MLAs while MIM has seven members. These two parties are likely to support the Congress.