Never before has it faced the kind of situation it is facing. The choice before it is—should it yield to the obviously orchestrated demand for a dynastic succession for the Chief Ministership? Or should it take the risk of ignoring the vociferous demand and go in for an experienced leader to fill, what looks like a gap difficult to fill?

It is no secret that Congressmen essentially are happy being a party ruled by a dynasty. But does this comfort level with the Gandhi-Nehru family extend to the satraps in the States? Dr.Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy was an extra-ordinary politician in the Congress ranks, no doubt. He managed to create for himself a niche in Andhra Pradesh politics, especially in Congress, which no one has ever managed to.

Yet, is it reason enough to hand over the baton to his son, Y.S.Jaganmohan Reddy, a political greenhorn, with just over a 100 days experience as an MP, and with no previous experience in electoral politics?

What will the Congress high command have to deal with, if it decides to yield to the enormous pressures being applied by the acolytes of late Reddy and his son? Apart from taking the risk of choosing a greenhorn to take over one of the largest States in the country, it will be creating a precedence, which can come back to haunt it in the future. Remember there are many Congress Chief Ministers in India, whose sons are also getting ready to take over the mantle from their fathers.

In Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda for instance has son, Dipender, already in Parliament and active in politics for some years now. Sheila Dixit’s son, Sandeep has already distinguished himself as an effective parliamentarian, and is in the second term as a Lok Sabha MP. Ashok Chavan in recent memory is the only one, who has followed his father into the Chief Minister’s chair. But it was decades after his father was the CM, and much after he emerged as a politician in his own right.

The danger of anointing Jaganmohan is that in future many more in the coming years, will cite the Andhra Pradesh model, to claim their father’s mantle, which is not a healthy thing in a democracy.

The supporters of the Reddy family in Andhra have cited the example of Rajiv Gandhi taking over from Indira Gandhi after her tragic death, as a precedence to be followed in their case also. But what they forget is that Sonia Gandhi, the present unquestioned leader of the party, rejected all demands to take over from Rajiv. Even her son, Rahul has so far resisted pressures to take up even a ministerial office, though it is there for his asking.

Ultimately what the Congress will have to decide is whether it will be setting a healthy precedent and more importantly if the young man has it in him, to take up such an onerous responsibility, at this point of time. Moreover, one has to remember that Jagan drew his strength from his father and whether as time passes and the emotions come under control, whether he will be able to retain the loyalty of all those who are backing him now.

The Congress high command has already hinted that it is not very comfortable with the ugly show of loyalty and the way the pressure was being built up on it, by the late YSR and his son’s supporters, even before the late CM’s body arrived in Hyderabad, leave alone the mourning period being over. In fact taking hint from this, even acting Chief Minister and veteran K.Rosaiah, who initially succumbed to the pressure and became a party to the demand for Jagan taking over from his father, is now shifting. In an interview to a newspaper, he has already indicated that he would follow the diktats of the high command, and not the acolytes of YSR and his son.

Jagan incidentally is a very wealthy businessman, with interests in varied fields from mining to media to power to real estate. He has also been controversial, as his father’s rivals both within and outside the party has made several allegations about the way this wealth was acquired. There are also charges of him being closely associated with the BJP’s Reddy brothers of Bellary, who themselves have a host of allegations against them.

YSR, managed to shrug of all these charges, simply because he delivered to the Congress, what most did not expect. A second term in the Andhra Pradesh assembly and an incredible 33 seats in Lok Sabha.

YSR was however also a controversial Chief Minister, despite his enormous popularity, which was on display soon after his tragic death. In the five years and three months that he ruled Andhra Pradesh, he managed to implement a large number of welfare programmes, admirably. This is what brought him closer to the hearts of the rural masses, especially.

But he also showed a ruthless streak, when it came to his rivals or perceived rivals within his own party, as well as outside. Having been dubbed a dissident all his political life, he decided to end dissidence against him with an iron hand, once he got power. He used the carrot and stick policy with such deadly effect that he managed to eliminate all his rivals within his party, and those who still had problems with him, were left completely helpless.

It is the result of this that today, not a single Congress leader in Andhra Pradesh, is unwilling to stick his neck out and counter the demand for Jagan taking over from his father, even though they are unhappy with it.

But that does not mean that these people will remain below the surface for long. And this is what the Congress high command has to take into account. Any decision on their part which is perceived as being one-sided can revive factionalism which has plagued the party for decades, before YSR ended it in the last few years.

There are lakhs of Congressmen in Andhra who feel indebted to YSR, simply because he spared no efforts to keep them happy, with generous doles during the elections and even post-election. There are of course ordinary people, who were so impressed by his dynamic interventions and governance, which saw their miseries being alleviated or atleast lessened.

The tragic circumstance of his death has only added to the aura which surrounded him. It has also resulted in his son basking in that aura and the unabashed and ugly sycophancy that we are witnessing as a result.