YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Several leaders have deserted the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) after it suffered its worst-ever poll debacle in the Assembly elections this year. This casts some doubt over the future of the 13-year-old party.

YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy steered the party to power in 2019, winning 151 of the 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. However, in the 2024 Assembly elections, the party’s performance was dismal. It lost against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led National Democratic Alliance and won only 11 seats. Of these, seven were from the Rayalaseema region.

Some leaders who were discontent with Mr. Reddy’s functioning chose to air their grievances publicly after the party’s disastrous performance. Three Rajya Sabha MPs, two MLCs, and party representatives in urban and local bodies have resigned and are set to join any of the three constituents of the NDA: the TDP, the Jana Sena Party (JSP), or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Switching loyalties is not new in State politics. Mr. Reddy, who criticised the TDP for the defection of 23 YSRCP MLAs between 2014 and 2019, also encouraged four TDP MLAs to support his government, though he did not allow them to join the party. With the change of guard, the fence-sitters are once again looking at the side that has brighter prospects.

While the YSRCP bounced back in 2019 even after 23 MLAs and three MPs left the party, the scenario might not be the same this time. In just over 100 days since the party’s defeat, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy has lost leaders who are not just politicians, but staunch loyalists of the YSRCP. He has also seen family members leave the party. Former Minister Balineni Sreenivasa Reddy, a close relative of the former Chief Minister; former Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao; and former MLAs Samineni Udayabhanu and Kilari Rosaih have left the party. The three men were loyal to Mr. Reddy’s father, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and had stuck with the YSRCP chief during turbulent times.

This shows that Mr. Reddy is getting isolated. Party persons say that Mr. Reddy did not coordinate well and have dialogues with leaders of the party. They alleged that he left party affairs to the people in his coterie. He seldom tried to speak with disgruntled leaders; this, they said, made matters worse for him.

The question now is, can Mr. Reddy keep the remaining flock of his MLAs, MPs, MLCs and leaders together? The government needs Rajya Sabha members and Lok Sabha members to pass crucial Bills. This leaves YSRCP Rajya Sabha members and MLCs vulnerable for poaching. There are already murmurs in political circles that some YSRCP Rajya Sabha members, MLCs, and party leaders are in touch with the NDA and may jump ship soon. Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao, Beeda Mastan Rao, and R. Krishnaiah have all resigned from their Rajya Sabha membership, bringing down the strength of the YSRCP in the Upper House from 11 to 8.

Initially, the YSRCP believed that the NDA would not spread a red carpet for defecting leaders as doing so may cause a rift among the parties of the alliance. However, with JSP chief Pawan Kalyan welcoming senior leaders Mr. Balineni Reddy, Mr. Udayabhanu, and Mr. Kilari Rosaih with open arms, that belief is slowly changing.

Leaders of the YSRCP may not think much before joining the ruling alliance as the TDP is keen on implementing its ‘Red Book’. The Red Book is an initiative of the party to keep track of all the government officers, particularly police officers, who have been allegedly acting on the YSRCP’s command and “terrorising” TDP cadre. In September, former MP Nandigam Suresh was arrested in a case relating to an attack on the TDP headquarters in 2021. Other former ministers and MLAs have also been booked in various cases.

Despite these challenges, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy cannot be written off. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu too was written off after the 2019 elections, but he proved all the naysayers wrong with a remarkable comeback from political wilderness just five years later.

Mr. Reddy has also shown that he has a fighting spirit. He won 67 of the 175 Assembly seats in the 2014 elections after being imprisoned for 16 months in the disproportionate assets case. He walked out of prison in 2013 and managed to secure 44.60% votes against the NDA in the 2014 elections. So, while the YSRCP may face trying times now, political equations could change sooner rather than later.

Hyderabad:

When Gottumukkala Sudhakar left his home last morning and headed to a polling booth in Andhra Pradesh’s Tenali, little did he know that he would return with several injuries and a fear for his family members’ safety.

Mr Sudhakar was brutally assaulted by YSR Congress Party MLA Sivakumar and his supporters when he objected to the legislator and his family members jumping the queue at the voting booth.

The assault was captured in a viral video, sparking outrage against the MLA’s brazen show of VIP culture. In the video, YSR Congress Party MLA A Sivakumar is seen approaching Mr Sudhakar and slapping him across the face. Mr Sudhakar hits back and the MLA’s aides pounce on him as other voters are seen trying to intervene.

Narrating the incident to the media, Mr Sudhakar said he and other voters were in queue when the MLA and his family members went inside the booth. “Everyone should stand in queue and vote. No one enjoys special privileges. So I asked his followers to join the queue. They must have told him when he came out after voting. He came to me and asked me, ‘who are you to question, how dare you?’ And then he slapped me,” he said, his left eye swollen due to an injury.

Mr Sudhakar said he hit back on the spur of the moment. “I didn’t even realise I had done it till they told me later. When police came, I said I won’t go anywhere before I vote. Police took me in through the exit gate. I voted, and they brought me out to the police station. They (MLA and his aides) beat me up so badly that I was bleeding, just because I asked them to follow rules,” he said.

He said he is worried about his family. “I don’t know if my family is under threat. I seek protection for my mother, me and my family.”

Local police have registered an FIR against the MLA and at least seven of his aides on Mr Sudhakar’s complaint.

The incident has also sparked a political slugfest between the ruling YSR Congress Party and the Opposition Telugu Desam Party. The TDP has registered a complaint with the Election Commission.

TDP spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagi told NDTV yesterday that the incident captures the ruling party’s desperation “because they know they are losing”. “This is ridiculous. The retaliation by the voter shows that people are not going to tolerate this nonsense anymore.”

YSR Congress Party MLA Abdul Hafeez Khan earlier said they are reviewing the viral video and alleged a conspiracy to defame the ruling party.

Simultaneous elections to Andhra Pradesh’s 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats were held yesterday. The YSRCP, led by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, is eyeing a third term. On the other side is former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose TDP has joined ranks with BJP for the big poll fight.

TDP-BJP-JSP alliance’s Payakaraopeta Assembly segment candidate Vangalapudi Anitha recently campaigning in Odisha to woo migrant voters, who settle there for their livelihood..
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) and the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) have been striving for the victory of their candidates in the Scheduled Caste reserved Payakaraopeta Assembly Constituency (PAC) in Anakapalli district.

Kambala Jogulu is the nominee of the YSRCP while Vangalapudi Anitha is from the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance.

The YSRCP chose Mr. Jogulu, who is a sitting MLA of Rajam segment in Vizianagaram district), as the party candidate by replacing sitting MLA Golla Baburao, who was sent to the Rajya Sabha.

Ms. Anitha, who has gained prominence with her vehement criticism of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy since 2019 as the Telugu Mahila State president, is testing her luck this time. She won from the Payakaraopeta Assembly constituency once in 2014 elections, but lost in 2019 as she was shifted to West Godavari district’s Kovvur Assembly segment.

The TDP-BJP-JSP seems to be trying to project Mr. Jogulu as a non-local candidate to mar his prospects in the election. The alliance party leaders are also expecting a bumper majority to their candidate Anitha.

“There is a tradition of electing leaders from outside Payakaraopeta Assembly constituency. The sitting MLA Baburao is also once a non-local as he hailed from East Godavari district. So, there will not be much impact of the non-local tag of Mr. Jogulu in the constituency. The YSRCP is confident that Mr. Jogulu will definitely win from the seat as he is a non-controversial politician and a four-time MLA,” said a senior party leader.

The constituency has a large number of fisherfolk, who have some crucial issues to be addressed by the elected contestants. Groundwater contamination is one of the major problems as there are two chemical plants located near the coastal villages in the segment. There are no proper higher educational institutions and drinking water facilities.

“So far it does not have a government degree college. Students have to rely on private institutions or go to nearby areas like Tuni to study in government colleges,” said a resident Prasad.

PAC was formed in 1951. It currently consists of four mandals namely Payakaraopeta, Nakkapalli, Kotauratla and S. Rayavaram. Raja Sagi Suryanarayana Raju was the first MLA elected as an independent candidate from Payakaropeta in 1952. He got 9,757 votes as against his rival candidate Sunkari Appala Naidu of Congress and won with a margin of 4,027 votes. Only 31,695 electors voted out of 63,155 for the first polling that was held on March 27 in 1952 for the Legislative Assembly of Madras.

Now, it has 2,48,702 general voters, including 1,22,402 males and 1,26,298 females. There are only two third gender voters. Service electors are 435 and NRI electors are six.

Rajya Sabha member Y.V. Subba Reddy
| Photo Credit: V RAJU

Rajya Sabha member Y.V. Subba Reddy has alleged that the alliance party Anakapalli Lok Sabha candidate C.M. Ramesh is bringing rowdyism with his activities to Anakapalli district. He alleged that the recent incident at Chodavaram was an example and people from Anakapalli do not want such leaders to rule them.

He made these comments following the Chodavaram police registering a case against Mr. Ramesh and a few others for obstructing the duties of DRO officials.

Speaking to the media here, Mr. Subba Reddy also said that TDP tally has come to zero in the Rajya Sabha and soon it would turn to zero in other elected bodies also, as people were completely against the party.

Later addressing a party meeting with the leaders, MLA and MP candidates in Anakapalli, Mr. Subba Reddy alleged that the TDP was responsible for the problems being faced by the elderly persons in getting pensions during the last few days. He said that the alliance parties have a strong hatred against the volunteers, as the volunteer system introduced by the State government was always with the people helping them in all their needs and bridged gap between people and the government.

He also asked his party workers to continue to their efforts to bring back the YSRCP to power. He said that people were very happy with the welfare schemes and development, which was evident during Gadapa Gadapa ki Mana Prabhutvam programme.

IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath, Deputy Chief Minister and Anakapalli MP candidate from the YSRCP Budi Mutyala Naidu and MLA candidates from various constituencies also spoke.