The Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapah Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who made an unsuccessful bid to become the Andhra Pradesh chief minister after his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air crash, made a debut as the party's star campaigner for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections.

The elections are scheduled for Monday.

Jagan, who had been upset for not getting an official invitation from the state Congress leadership to campaign for candidates, nevertheless decided to campaign for the elections after his supporters, including ministers and legislators, mounted pressure on him.

Jagan's supporters gave him an emotional welcome at many places on the first day of his two-day-long road show.

Jagan, who started the campaign from Maheshwaram assembly, the constituency of Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy, for sentimental reasons, addressed meetings in Uppal, LB Nagar, Secunderabad and Malkajgiri seeking the vote for Congress candidates for the sake of his father.

"Vote for the Congress as a tribute to YSR," he reiterated everywhere, promising that the Congress would continue with all the development and welfare programmes launched by his father, only if the party won over the GHMC.

Beginning with a dramatic angle, Jagan started the campaign by seeking blessings from his mother Vijayalakshmi, garlanding the statues of Congress icons Rajiv Gandhi and Indra Gandhi, Dr Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram in different parts of the city. In his attempt to appease voters across all religions, he also offered prayers at Bangaru Maisamma Temple and Yusufain Dargah and hoisted the Congress party flag at the historic monument Charminar.

While frenzied fans accompanied his Rath on motorcycles, many of his supporters showered flowers on him along the route.

Interestingly, fans and followers did not spare the opportunity to shout slogans demanding that Jagan be made the chief minister.

In response, Jagan said, "With God's grace and blessings of the people, I will becoming the chief minister one day."

The GHMC polls, where over 50 lakh people will elect 150 corporators in the 24 assembly constituencies of Hyderabad, are significant for various reasons.

This is the first show of strength by all the parties since the state assembly and Lok Sabha election this year. The Congress and its ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen had swept the polls in Hyderabad region in both the elections.

It is also a trial by fire for Chief Minister Rosaiah, who took over after YSR's death on September 2. If the Congress does well and gets the post of the Mayor, it will be a big boost of Rosaiah, although Jagan's supporters will now try to project the probable victory as being a success for their star.

Other parties including the Telugu Desam Party-Left alliance, the Praja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeevi, the Lok Satta and the BJP are also trying to prove their strength in this election. Chandrababu Naidu is personally campaigning for TDP candidates.

The internal differences in the Congress party, which came to the fore after the death of YSR, were also reflected in the campaign program of Jagan, as he will be covering only 15 of the 24 seats giving preference to only those legislators and leaders who supported him.