Hyderabad: Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ability to steer his party together to a consecutive victory is under test as dissidence among the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) ranks threatens to upset his plan of retaining power with a clean sweep in the Andhra Pradesh polls.
At the forefront of the dissent is some from his own community, Reddy MLAs, and staunch loyalists, as seen in Mangalagiri legislator Alla Ramakrishna Reddy’s exit from the party.
Once seen as a close confidant of Jagan, Alla was a crusader against former CM Chandrababu Naidu regime’s alleged corruption. The two-time MLA filed complaints against Naidu, his son and other senior leaders of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the Amaravati assigned lands, inner-ring road design scam among others. The CID is probing these cases.
On Monday, Alla resigned as he was replaced with backward caste leader Ganji Chiranjeevi, whom incidentally he brought from the TDP in 2022, in the party’s new list of in-charges in 11 assembly segments. His resignation follows the exit of four YSRCP MLAs in March, three of them Reddys.
Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy were expelled for anti-party activities, culminating in the cross-voting in the MLC polls that led to the TDP win a Council seat.
Vundavalli Sridevi, a Dalit MLA representing Tadikonda, was also suspended for the same reason. All these four MLAs have aligned with the rival TDP.
Further, Balineni Srinivas Reddy. a five-time MLA and two-time minister, has been striking a discordant tone from some time. A relative to Jagan, Balineni is sulking since his removal from the Cabinet in April 2022 while a SC legislator from the same Prakasam district continued in the team.
“I stood firmly with the YSR family from the beginning. Sadly, YSRCP leaders here are now falsely propagating that I am leaving the party. Why this torture?” Balineni said while addressing reporters in May, referring to groupings against him and amid apprehensions over his Ongole ticket in 2024.
“We have immense affection for Jagan, but where is the reciprocation?” Balineni reportedly remarked recently. While other MLAs have come out, Balineni, Ongole MLA, has been blowing hot and cold, limiting his involvement in party activities.
Polls in Andhra Pradesh are due in April and will be held simultaneously with the general elections.
“While in some cases these Reddy MLA aspirations are apparently not met with, Jagan’s political engineering to accommodate more BCs, SCs in his cabinet and changes being affected in the assembly seats has caused a major heartburn,” Guntur-based Navyandhra Intellectual Forum chairman Prof. D.A.R Subrahmanyam told ThePrint.
In February, Kotamreddy announced quitting YSRCP and accused the Jagan government of tapping his phones on suspicion that he is in touch with TDP leaders. The two-time MLA from Nellore Rural had strong expectations of becoming a minister, which were dashed after the cabinet reshuffle in April 2022. Anam, too, was hopeful.
“Kotamreddy was such a YSR loyalist that at Jagan’s command, he would have slit his own throat in a split second. He had to face such ignominy. I was told on my face that I won’t be given the ticket ‘as my graph is down’. What should I do? I am hopeful of getting the TDP nomination in the polls,” Mekapati, a four-time MLA from Udayagiri, told ThePrint.
Mekapati, brother of industrialist and former Lok Sabha MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, alleges that “mega-money” power has become a determining factor in allocating YSRCP tickets.
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Reddy clout in Andhra politics
While the agrarian, land holding community is estimated to constitute around 8-9 percent of Andhra Pradesh’s population, the Reddy politicians wield far more influence in the politics compared to the caste’s vote share. Nine of the 17 Andhra CMs since 1956 were Reddys.
After the decline of the Congress, the Reddys shifted their allegiance to the YSRCP. Out of the party’s 151 MLAs in the current assembly, a whopping 49 are from the community. Most of these MLAs are from Rayalaseema — the region Jagan hails from.
The dissonance Jagan is facing now is from leaders from the other region — Coastal Andhra and especially the erstwhile Nellore, Prakasam (Ongole) and Guntur districts.
Alla resigned from his assembly and YSRCP membership citing personal reasons, but added that he will reveal the actual motive later.
“Alla was the most devout and should have definitely been made a minister but look at his fate now,” Mekapati says.
Jagan’s decision is reportedly based on the feedback that Ganji Chiranjeevi has better chances of victory in Mangalagiri with a large BC population.
“All these Reddys from coastal Andhra are ministerial hopefuls, unmindful of the fact that Reddy quota more or less is consumed by Rayalaseema. Jagan’s social engineering resulted in about 70 percent of berths after last year’s reshuffle going to BCs, SCs, STs,” Subrahmanyam said.
But still, Kotamreddey was denied a berth while Kakani Govardhan Reddy, also from Nellore, was made the minister filling in Balineni’s berth, which — Subrahmanyam said — could have compounded his grouse against Jagan.
While the Monday list had 11 changes that left several reportedly unhappy, Alla, brother of YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Ayodhyarami Reddy (one of the richest MPs), was the one to quit, making his displeasure public.
In Gajuwaka, sitting MLA Nagi Reddy’s son Devan Reddy was replaced with BC leader Ramachandra Rao. Nagi Reddy had defeated JanaSena chief Pawan Kalyan in 2019.
As reports emerged that Devan too resigned in protest, he refuted the news after meeting YSRCP leader Y.V. Subba Reddy, who is an uncle of Jagan and also the powerful regional coordinator in-charge of north Andhra.
“It was decided earlier to give Mangalagiri to a BC candidate and Alla too agreed, with an assurance of a proper, respectful accommodation later. But he seems to have been provoked by his men and resorted to resignation which caused some misperception. We will talk to him and resolve the matter soon,” Subba Reddy told ThePrint.
To a query on loyalist Kotamreddy’s expulsion, Subba Reddy asserted that he was shown the door for “anti-party activities, mudslinging at other YSRCP leaders.” “Unfortunately, some of our men (like Kotamreddy, Mekapati) fell in our opponent’s trap.”
Anam, a former Congress finance minister, had joined the TDP and then shifted to the YSRCP. The Venkatagiri MLA was suspended in March following which he announced his decision to join the TDP.
“As YSRCP pace slows down, Jagan is going for constituency-wise electoral engineering to deploy what he sees as winnable faces. Reddy dissent is spilling out, but there is a palpable discord among some MLAs of other communities too who are expected to lose party nomination,” Subrahmanyam said.
Telangana results impact
A senior YSRCP Reddy leader acknowledged the dissent in some quarters but defended Jagan stating “his difficult decisions are solely based on the winnability criteria to retain power with a better strength in the house.”
“Reddys are YSRCP’s big strength, and BCs, SCs too are very central for our victory,” he said, adding that the 11 changes of constituency in-charges “is the first of a few more lists to follow”.
“We have an ongoing assessment of MLAs, their performance based on ground reports, consultancy surveys, and several changes were in the offing. But the Telangana results have quickened our plan of action to change some sitting MLAs.”
Jagan has been asking his party men to work vigorously with the aim of winning all the 175 assembly seats. At the launch of public outreach programmes, Jagan has for some time been warning his legislators to mend ways and improve constituency-community connect in order to retain their seats.
One of the major reasons attributed to BRS loss in Telangana is K Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to retain most of around 100 MLAs in the contest even as local feedback showed strong public dissent against at least 25 MLAs.
Reports suggest Jagan plans to drop or shift the MLAs in over half of his party’s 151 seats. “We cannot blame Jagan for changing candidates in order to win one more term. Change is necessary but unlike his father YSR, Jagan lacks the patience to explain, convince his men of the need for change. While taking such decisions, he should give proper audience to those being denied the opportunity. YSR had an able advisor K.V.P Ramachandra Rao guiding him suitably in such matters. Jagan has several advisors, but he needs one like K.V.P,” Subrahmanyam said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)