Y.S Jagan started his political life by campaigning for Congress party in 2004 elections in Kadapa District. The Congress had swept the state, winning 185 of the 294 seats in the Assembly. Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
Y S Jagan was elected as Member of Parliament from Kadapa Constituency in 2009.
After the sudden death of Dr Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy started his earnest efforts to take up the political legacy left by his father. He started an Odarpu Yatra across Andhra Pradesh, to console the families of those who had committed suicide or died of shock after the death of his father. This tour was not supported by the Congress leadership Congress President Defying the Congress High Command's order to call off the tour, Jagan went ahead with the first leg of the "Odarpu Yatra" in the West Godavari and Khammam districts from in April 2010.
He formed a new party YSR Congress (Yuvajana Shramika Raithu Congress Party) on 16th February 2011.