Bengaluru: Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party has finally tasted success. If trends are anything to go by, he will soon occupy the seat he so passionately dreamed of for nearly a decade — chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.
According to news18.com, the YSRCP is leading in 145 of the 175 assembly seats while Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party is leading in 28 seats.
The YSR Congress has also performed extremely well in the Lok Sabha elections — it’s currently leading in 21 of the state’s 25 seats, while the TDP leads in just four.
The result brings to fruition Reddy’s unrelenting efforts since the demise of his father and then-chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009, which had led to his parting of ways with the Congress about a year later. He had floated the YSRCP in 2011.
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The long road
Soon after YSR’s death, hectic lobbying had begun to make Jagan succeed his father. Intense pressure on the central leaders of the Congress made party chief Sonia Gandhi name K. Rosaiah as interim chief minister.
Jagan decided to build on the growing emotions of supporters and launch an Odarpu Yatra or condolence tour, as many people had committed suicide on hearing about YSR’s death. He called it “keeping his word” and visited all those who gave up their lives for his father. But the Congress denied him permission, leading to the split. Jagan went on the emotional journey, also campaigning against the Congress.
The YSR Congress got its first electoral success in 2012, when the party won 16 out of the 19 seats in the Andhra Pradesh by-elections, before the bifurcation of the state.
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After bifurcation
Once Andhra Pradesh was split into two in 2014, Jagan had to face up to TDP strongman and his father’s arch-rival, Naidu, an ally of the BJP.
Things changed when the Narendra Modi-led central government failed to provide the promised special package for Andhra, resulting in Naidu breaking away from the NDA. He then launched a slew of welfare packages which included schemes for farmers, unemployed youth, women and empowering self-help groups. His government spent close to Rs 15,000 crore, also writing off loans to the tune of Rs 87,000 crore, which benefitted nearly 90 lakh farmers.
But Jagan’s aggressive campaign has been built on the very issue that the Centre failed to deliver — the special package to Andhra Pradesh. Jagan also compared his promise with that of Naidu’s, and called him a man who broke his promise and ran a corrupt government for his personal political gains.