YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been skipping Assembly sessions after his demand for the status of Leader of the Opposition was not accepted. He has also reportedly stopped his MLAs from raising constituency issues in the house.
Instead of participating in the Assembly, Jagan is choosing to address the public through press meets and social media. His press conferences usually stretch for one and a half to two hours, often followed by lengthy posts on Twitter.
Jagan's tweets are unusually long, sometimes running into hundreds of words. Today, he criticised the government over the Housing Scheme for the Poor in a message that extended to 500 words.
Earlier this month, he posted a 700-word tweet about NTR Vaidya Seva. Several of his tweets have even exceeded 1,000 words. In many cases, he also shares an English version of the same message in a single tweet.
These lengthy messages resemble essays, as if written for a competition. But social media users, especially the younger audience, prefer short, crisp messages. Long posts are often skipped, making the effort ineffective.
Many supporters of the YSR Congress have echoed this concern in the comment sections. However, there appears to be little interest in changing the approach.
The fourth session of the current Assembly began today in Velagapudi. While YSR Congress MLAs took the oath, they did not attend the house proceedings, including Jagan.
However, the party still holds a majority in the Legislative Council, and members are attending sessions there. Jagan is currently in Bengaluru and is expected to return to Tadepalli soon.
Upon his return, he is likely to hold another press meet to speak on the Assembly proceedings. And going by past experience, the session might once again stretch endlessly.