cquire more businesses. It is headed by his wife, Y. S. Bharathi.

[12] Reddy sold

his shares in SPCL and moved away from his active direct businesses as he got more
involved in politics.[citation needed]

Political career
Reddy's father Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, was a two-time
chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, serving from 2004 to 2009. He started his
political career campaigning for Indian National Congress during the 2004 elections
in Kadapa district.[13] In 2009, he was elected as Member of Parliament from Kadapa
Lok Sabha constituency.[13]

Following the death of his father in September 2009, he started efforts to take up
the political legacy left by his father. The majority of the legislators favoured
him to be appointed as the Chief Minister, but this choice was not approved by
party leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

Six months after his father's death, he began an odarpu yatra (condolence tour), as
promised earlier, to go and meet the families of those alleged to have either
committed suicide or suffered ill health on the news of his father's death. The
Congress party's central leadership directed him to call off his odarpu yatra, an
order which he defied leading to a fallout between the high command and himself. He
went ahead with the yatra, stating that it was a personal matter.[14]

2010–2014: Founding of YSR Congress Party

Following the fallout with the Congress party high command, on 29 November 2010, he
resigned from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency and has also quit the party. His
mother, Vijayamma, has also resigned from Pulivendula Assembly constituency and has
quit the party as well.[15] He announced on 7 December 2010 from Pulivendula that
he would be starting a new party within 45 days.[16] In March 2011, he announced
that he would launch the new party, named YSR Congress Party, at Jaggampeta, East
Godavari district.[17] Later, his party went to by-polls in Kadapa district and won
almost all the seats with a huge majority.[18] Reddy, as the president of YSR
Congress, faced by-election from the Kadapa constituency and won by a large margin
of 545,043 votes.[19] His mother has also won the Pulivendula Assembly constituency
by 85,193 votes against Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy.[20]

2014–2019: Leader of opposition and Padayatra

In 2014, the YSR Congress Party was a pre-poll favourite among most analysts and
psephologists.[21] But, the YSRCP has lost the 2014 elections, winning only 67 of
175 seats in the state assembly, with 45% of vote share.[22] The Telugu Desam Party
vote share went up to 47% and the 2% gap led to the defeat of YSRCP.[21]nymously
Jagan and Jagananna, is an Indian politician currently serving as the 17th Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He is the founder and president of the Indian political
party, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). He is also the son of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy,
former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Jagan Mohan Reddy started his political career in the Indian National Congress and
was elected as the Member of Parliament of Kadapa in 2009.[1] After his father's
death due to helicopter crash in 2009, he started Odarpu Yatra (a consoling tour)
across the state.[2] He then eventually came out of the Congress Party and
established his own party, YSR Congress Party which also matches his father's
acronym, YSR.[3]

In 2014 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections, YSRCP won 67 seats and he
became the Leader of the Opposition.[4] Five years later, in 2019 Andhra Pradesh
Legislative Assembly elections, he led the party to a landslide victory in the
state elections by winning 151 seats of the total 175 assembly segments.[5]

Early life
Jagan Mohan Reddy was born in Christian Reddy family in Jammalamadugu in Kadapa
district of Andhra Pradesh to Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Y. S. Vijayamma.[6][7]
Reddy has a younger sister, Y. S. Sharmila, who is also a politician.[8]

He studied at The Hyderabad Public School up to 12th grade.[7] Tollywood actor

Sumanth Kumar Yarlagadda was his best friend at school.[9] He graduated with a
Bachelor of Commerce degree[6][7] from Pragathi Mahavidyalaya Degree and PG
college,[image 1] Ram Koti, Hyderabad.[10]

Reddy married Bharathi on 28 August 1996.[6][7] The couple has two daughters, the
elder of whom studied undergraduate in London.[6][7]

Business ventures
Reddy first acquired Sandur Power Company Limited (SPCL), a defunct power project
from its original promoter M B Ghorpade in 2001.[11] SPCL later invested crores of
rupees in other companies and could a