New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) Under fire for violating the party leadership's directive and going ahead with a rally in Andhra Pradesh's volatile Telangana region, Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is here hoping to meet party president Sonia Gandhi.

The Kadapa MP, whose rally last week led to violence in the Telangana region, defended himself, saying he organised it was for his father, the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash last year.

"Whatever I'm doing is for my father. I'm sure the Congress president will understand my point," the MP, known as Jagan, told reporters here.

Jagan, who reached the capital Sunday to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, has sought an appointment with Gandhi and other senior party leaders, said party sources.

The central leadership of the party had asked him not to conduct the rally in Telangana in view of the tension prevailing there over the separate statehood issue.

Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday asked Jagan to call off his rally.

Defying the directive, Jagan embarked on the rally May 28, triggering violence between his supporters and opponents as he was taken into preventive custody while on his way to Mahbubabad in Warangal district.

Jagan reiterated that the rally was to console family members of those who committed suicide or died of shock following the death of his father, then chief minister, in a helicopter crash last year.