Hyderabad: When Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy was found dead in his house on March 15, 2019, a month before the state and general elections in Andhra Pradesh, it set off a political storm. The deceased was the uncle of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) supremo and current AP chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and a former MP who had represented the crucial Kadapa seat for 10 years after his brother Y.S.R. Reddy gave up the seat. In 2009, Vivekananda gave up the seat for Jagan; he stepped in to contest from there in 2009. From 2014, it has been held by Jagan’s cousin, Avinash Reddy.In a major twist since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case in July 2020, one of Vivekanada Reddy’s brothers i.e. another uncle of Jagan’s, Bhaskara Reddy, has been arrested for the murder. The accused’s son and sitting YSRCP MP from Kadapa, Avinash, is also being investigated for the crime, and reports say he has been summoned by the CBI for questioning today, Monday, April 17.The CBI had taken over the case in 2020 on the AP high court’s direction based on a petition from Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicions over the investigation being carried out in the state. After the matter reached the Supreme Court, an apex court bench transferred the case to Hyderabad, in Telangana, for a ‘fair trial’. The court held that apprehensions raised by the deceased’s wife and daughter regarding the derailment of fair trial were reasonable and that they have a fundamental right and have a legitimate expectation that the criminal trial be conducted in a fair manner.The CBI, during the course of its investigation, told the Telangana high court that Bhaskara Reddy’s son Avinash, along with one of their followers D. Siva Sankar Reddy, had planned to eliminate Vivekananda over political differences. Four other accused have been arrested in the case so far.The revelationOne of the biggest turns since the CBI took over the case has been the accusation that the murder was carried out by Avinash and his father as they harboured a grouse against Vivekananda, who reportedly was opposed to fielding Avinash as the party candidate from the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in the last polls.Sources close to the chief minister’s family claim that Vivekananda Reddy had campaigned in the Maidukuru constituency for Avinash Reddy’s election as an MP on the day he was murdered and that Avinash had no reason to eliminate him. They also accuse the CBI of ignoring other angles and motives, including of property deals gone sour.Jagan Mohan Reddy’s family is from Pulivendula in Kadapa district. His father, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, a two-time Andhra Pradesh (joint state) chief minister until his sudden death in a helicopter crash in 2009, Vivekanada Reddy and Rajasekhara Reddy were siblings (along with seven other brothers and sisters). Bhaskara Reddy is reportedly their step-sibling.Larger implications“A day after the murder in 2020, the Jagan family-owned Sakshi newspaper carried a full page cartoon in the first page blaming our party president Chandrababu Naidu. The YSRCP also said it was a heart attack,” pointed out TDP spokesperson N. Vijay Kumar.There has been intense speculation about the twists and turns in this case, starting from it being a natural death, to the TDP being accused then of murder due to family differences over who will hold Kadapa, a prestigious seat for all Reddy family members. Political circles in AP have also been agog with talk of a botched real-estate deal being a possible reason for the murder. However, none of this has been substantiated in any way so far.Immediately after the murder, the state had formed a Special Investigation Team or an SIT but its exertions did not amount to much. The previous TDP government had restricted the CBI’s permission to operate in the state.Naidu was chief minister of the state till Jagan was sworn in on May 30, 2019,With central agencies being seen as hostile to those who are ranged against the BJP-led government at the Centre, the CBI’s arrest of the incumbent chief minister’s uncle and charging his cousin and sitting party MP, YSRCP leaders say the latest action may be part of the same pattern.In the upcoming elections, the BJP may be looking at reaching an understanding with Jagan’s rival, Naidu.Yunus Y. Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist.