As YSR Cong fights to control Seemandhra, it's Jagan Vs media in AP

If proved, we will surrender Sakshi to you. Else, will you surrender Eenadu to us? That seven-column banner headline of YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s Sakshi newspaper on Saturday more or less spells out the challenge posed by Sakshi to Ramoji Rao of the Eenadu empire. The challenge came as an attempt to charge that Eenadu was “unscrupulously” maligning Jagan by trying to link him to the Titanium exploration case filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States in 2013 and whose details were put out now. Eenadu ran a front page top story raising a question if one of the unnamed accused, who is referred to as a relative the late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was YSR’s brother, Sudheekar Reddy. Eenadu’s election special supplement, Paanchajanyam, on Saturday frontpaged the caricatures of YSR, Jagan and KVP Ramachandra Rao, who is now indicted by the Department of Justice of United States and named by the FBI in the Titanium mineral exploration scandal, and reproduced the full text of the deposition made by YSR’s aide, Suryanarayana Reddy, two years ago, before the CBI. Interestingly, the content of this deposition was published earlier too in parts during earlier elections. [caption id=“attachment_1453933” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jagan Mohan Reddy. PTI[/caption] Come election time, it is a no-holds-barred war between YS Jaganmohan Reddy and a section of media friendly to the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. While some media houses make no bones about their opposition to Jagan and support to the TDP, a few others take a neutral ground and still nail Jagan. Just as the election season began, Eenadu, a bitter critic of the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his son Jagan, published a front page signed editorial appealing to the youth to demonstrate their democratic responsibility by defeating “corrupt politicians.” Though it had not taken the name of Jagamohan Reddy directly, very obvious references indicated that it was targeting the Kadapa MP, who is hoping to capture power in the Seemaandhra region. Jagan’s supporters too contemptuously term his critics as ‘yellow media’ – an oblique reference not only to ‘yellow journalism’ but also to the TDP’s signature colour. Jagan Reddy on his part was categorical in his criticism of media organisations. He took the names of two newspapers and three TV channels gunning for his head, and poured scorn on them during his speeches in the run-up to the June 2012 by-elections. Jagan Reddy and his supporters have always suspected a nexus between the powers-that-be and the media houses opposed to him. His arrest during the electioneering in May 2012 was foreseen and predicted by the media well in advance. Still, Jagan’s party managed to post a resounding victory in 15 out of 18 Assembly seats and trounced its opposition in Nellore Lok Sabha seat. The month-long campaign day after day in the newspapers and hour after hour in the TV channels disappeared in the proverbial thin air. Lending credence to Jagan’s charge that he is being singled out, the media houses too publish stories glorifying Chandrababu Naidu and the TDP. Mammoth public meetings addressed by Jagan, his sister and his mother are tucked away somewhere in a corner page with a single-column coverage. On most occasions, Jagan’s meetings and his party’s statements appear as fillers in some of the newspapers, which make no qualms about being called TDP-friendly. As if to rub salt on the proverbial wound of the YSR Congress, the TDP leaders keep giving representations to Election Commission of India to treat the pro-Jagan stories published by Sakshi newspaper and aired by Sakshi TV as paid news, for both organisations are promoted by Jagan. The YSR Congress, on its part, appeals to the Election Commission to treat the coverage nailing Jagan and hailing the TDP by some media houses as paid news. Jagan’s caricatures projecting him in poor light have begun finding place on the upper half of the front pages of newspapers. Stories about the numerous corruption charges leveled against him have begun hogging the limelight once again. In the Titanium exploration case, Chandrababu Naidu and the media that is taking up cudgels on behalf of him and the TDP have alleged that one of the indicted persons enlisted as a ‘relative of YSR Reddy’ is none other than Jagan Reddy himself. On the contrary, Sakshi has come up a with feeble defence either because it doesn’t have a solid argument to counter the charges or it does not want to kowtow to KVP Ramachandra Rao, who did not lend the necessary support at a crucial juncture to Jagan. With the tie-up between TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) becoming almost certain, a contrasting situation is worth a mention here: Narendra Modi who has always been the punching bag of a large section of the media has never lost an electoral battle, while luck hasn’t been favouring Chandrababu Naidu, who is a darling of a large section of the media. Pre-election survey reports too are exposing the political affinities of media houses. Whenever the CNN-IBN’s ElectionTracker or NDTV’s survey suggested that Jagan is ahead of all, they used to get highlighted in Sakshi media. Anti-Jagan media used to conveniently ignore those surveys. When the two surveys, in their latest presentation, reported the rise of the TDP, and decline of YSR Congress, they got undue priority in anti-Jagan media. However, Sakshi media limited itself to publicising the criticism of these surveys. The logic and methodology go unquestioned by the media houses whenever the reports are in tune with their respective political policies. Else, the same are subject to derision. But people have stopped being swayed away by media opinions. They are proving smarter than the smartest.