After the death of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ("YSR"), his son Jaganmohan Reddy started an odarpu yatara (condolence tour), supposedly to console the families of those who had allegedly committed suicide or died of shock after the death of his father. This was however not supported by the leadership of the ruling Congress Party to which he belonged, due to the volatile state of AP politics regarding Telangana issue. Defying the Congress high command's order to call off the tour, he went on to undertake "Odarpu Yatra". His tour drew large number of people to his meetings. In between, the Jagan-promoted Sakshi TV channel and Sakshi newspaper, had been continuously criticizing the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah and Congress leadership at Delhi. In a special programme on Sakshi television to mark the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Congress party, a voice-over made remarks on Sonia Gandhiand Manmohan Singh on "sorry state of affairs" in the State, which invited anger and protests from various Congress Party groups and increased gap between Jaganmohan Reddy and Congress party.^[3] It later deleted those remarks in re-telecast. After accusing Congress party of ill-treating him and creating rifts in his family by luring Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy (younger brother of YSR) for a State cabinet post in the aftermath the death of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Jaganmohan Reddy and his mother Y. S. Vijaya Lakshmi resigned for Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies respectively, as members of Congress party. The YSR Congress Party was registered at Election Commission of India on K. Shiva Kumar as founder President from whom Jaganmohan Reddy took over the reign after Shiva Kumar's resignation.