Hyderabad: After defeat in the 2019 Assembly election and a series of poll losses in the following years, former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) got a boost Thursday after winning a council seat in Andhra Pradesh.
TDP’s lone candidate Panchumarthi Anuradha was elected as the member of the legislative council after securing 23 votes. Six leaders of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) were also elected to the Council.
What’s key here is this was an MLA quota poll — where only parties’ legislators can vote. The TDP, which has 19 functional members in the legislative assembly, still won a seat in apparent “cross voting” which could potentially be the YSRCP MLAs.
Simply put, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP has 151 MLAs, the TDP has 23 and the Jana Sena Party has one seat in the assembly. Each of the eight candidates — seven from YSRCP and one from TDP — in the fray for seven seats required about 22 votes to win.
Although the TDP has 23 MLAs on paper, four of them shifted loyalties to the YSRCP without leaving their original party to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law. Jana Sena’s lone MLA from Razole also shifted loyalties to the YSRCP after 2019.
So, Panchumarthi Anuradha’s victory indicates that either any of the rebel MLAs or the YSRCP MLAs supported the TDP.
After the win, TDP MLA Payyavula Keshav told the media, “Recent MLC polls (in the Graduates constituency) showed that people do not trust the Jagan-led government. Now, it shows that his own MLAs do not believe in his governance. The ruling party might downplay our win, but the MLC seats represent a decent sample size in constituencies.”
The YSRCP, which downplayed the TDP’s win, said the party did identify the cross-voters and appropriate action will be taken at the right time.
“We did have our numbers (of 22 MLAs to vote for every candidate) and, hence, we confidently went for polls. But, Naidu has to answer how he was so confident despite having 19 functional MLAs with him and still fielded one candidate?” Andhra Pradesh government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy told the media.
In the YSRCP, the MLAs were categorised into groups and allotted a certain MLC candidate who they should or could vote for. The party allotted 22 MLAs to each candidate for seven MLC seats, including the four TDP rebel MLAs.
TDP, meanwhile, fielded one candidate without the minimum strength of 22 MLAs to compete with the YSRCP. Yet, the party won a seat with the support of four MLAs, who are most likely from the YSRCP.
“Four of the TDP MLAs, who liked Jagan’s style of working and ideology, shifted their affiliations long ago. This clearly indicates horse-trading and he (Naidu) may have brought some MLAs,” Reddy said, asserting that the YSRCP did win six seats.
Alleging that the TDP chief is a “national champion” in poaching, Reddy claimed that, “Naidu has had a history of doing such things. …We did speak to every MLA who had any kind of issue with the party and sorted it. What could be more effective than that? Only luring people with money can work beyond that.”
The MLAs will have to do a first preferential voting and choose someone on second preference. A cabinet minister was appointed for each group of 22 MLAs, who were supposed to vote for a certain MLC candidate, for coordination, according to an YSRCP insider.
Boost for TDP
Arithmetically, this can cause no dent to the ruling YSRCP, which still has a dominance in the Council. But for TDP, this is a boost given that the latest victory is its second such achievement after winning three MLC seats last week.
Elections to three graduates, two teachers and four local bodies’ constituencies were held in Andhra Pradesh 10 days ago, of which TDP won three MLC seats in the graduates constituency, while YSRCP won the rest.
TDP’s victory last week and the win on Thursday comes after its poor performance in Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, panchayat and municipal body elections over the last few years.
With Andhra Pradesh due for the Assembly poll in 2024, the TDP is seeing this victory as a major step to return to the fray.
According to Telakapalli Ravi, a political analyst, this is the time for the YSRCP to introspect, but this single-seat victory for TDP, he said, would not mean that the government would crash.
“Just because the TDP won a single seat does not mean that the entire government will crash. But, the YSRCP government has to understand (after looking at the TDP victory in Graduates constituency) that there is some dissent in that particular sector. When it comes to MLA voting, the YSRCP has to introspect who these MLAs are, and if they are its own, how can the party correct all of this,” Ravi told a regional news channel.
Ravi added that only such course correction would help the “confident” YSRCP to handle such situations or not get into them. “It is not just the quantity, quality is also important.”
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Who could be the black sheep?
Although there is no clarity in the public domain about the four MLAs who might have helped Panchumarthi Anuradha win, there have been voices of discontent in the ruling YSRCP in the recent times.
Nellore Rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy last month alleged that the government was tapping his phones and even dropped hints of resigning.
Another MLA Anam Ramanarayana Reddy from Venkatagiri constituency, who openly criticised party supremo and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was said to be considering options to switch to other parties.
Udayagiri MLA Mekapati Chandra Sekhar Reddy had spoken against the government in the past.
Meanwhile, YSRCP MLA Vundavalli Sridevi from Tadikonda constituency, while in conversation with a regional channel Thursday, clarified that she did not “cross vote” and had voted as per the party’s instructions. She met Jagan Thursday before voting.
Like her, Mylavaram constituency MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad also told a regional news channel that he did not cross vote.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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