New ‘states’ and new politics

Five years ago, the political picture in Andhra Pradesh was entirely different. When the state went to the polls in 2009, the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party were stronger than all and YSR Reddy was leading the Congress.

After five years, political equations have changed. TCongress is almost a dead horse. Though, it’s a single state when going to the booths on April 30 and May 7, by June 2, there will be two states -- Seemandhra and Telangana.

More than all these, the state (S) has seen the emergence of two major political forces. One is the YSR Congress led by former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy and the other is the Telengana Rashtra Samithi led by K Chandrasekhar Rao. Both the parties are expected to replace the Congress in Seemandhra and Telangana, respectively.

In Seemandhra, which has 25 Lok Sabha seats and 176 assembly seats, the main fight is between the Telugu Desam-BJP alliance and the YSR Congress. The Congress was trying hard to find candidates for seats in the region as many leaders, including chief minister Kirankumar Reddy had deserted the party. Many of the Congress MLAs and MPs are now with the Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, while Kirankumar Reddy has formed Jai Samaikhya Andhra Party in protest against the bifurcation of the state.

In the Seemandhra region, the Congress is targeted over the bifurcation of the state. Many leaders believe it was a suicidal move by the central leadership, which hoped to win over the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the Telangana region. However, it failed to woo the party in Telangana and now faces the poll all alone, except the support of the CPI. YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy is contesting the assembly election from Pulivendula while his mother and honorary president YS Vijayamma is fighting for the Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam.

Jaganmohan Reddy’s uncle and cousin are also on the candidates’ list for parliamentary elections from Seemandhra to be held on May 7. Vijayamma, YS Avinash Reddy and YV Subba Reddy are among 24 candidates announced by the party for the May 7 elections. The party also declared names of 170 candidates for the assembly elections.

Jaganmohan Reddy eyes the post of chief minister in Seemandhra. Vijayamma was elected unopposed to Andhra Pradesh assembly as the Congress candidate from Pulivendula in the bypolls in December 2009 following the death of her husband and then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Pulivendula is considered a family stronghold. YSR, as the late chief minister was popularly known, had been elected six times from this constituency.

The YSR Congress chief turned down strong requests from the party cadres to field his sister Sharmila, who is campaigning for the party. Jaganmohan Reddy’s cousin YS Avinash Reddy will contest for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Jagan himself. Avinash Reddy is son of YS Bhaskar Reddy, brother of YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Jagan’s maternal uncle YV Subba Reddy is the party candidate from the Ongole Lok Sabha constituency. Subba Reddy, husband of Vijayamma’s sister, played a key role in running the party when Jagan was in jail for 16 months in quid-pro-quo investment case.

The YSR Congress has retained sitting MP from Nellore, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy. Nandyal MP SPY Reddy, who quit the Congress and joined the YSR Congress in February this year, is seeking re-election. Similarly, the party has fielded sitting MP from Anantapur Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, who also quit the Congress recently. However, the Congress has been forced to field fresh faces for a majority of the seats for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The party has named almost all loyal outgoing MPs and state legislators due to the mass exodus from the party following the bifurcation of the state.

Unlike in Telangana, there were fewer aspirants for many constituencies in Seemandhra and the leadership did not face problems in naming the candidates.

Out of six MPs expelled from the party in February for stalling the Telangana bill in parliament, A. Sai Pratap has been welcomed back and is seeking re-election from Rajampet.

The party has re-nominated union ministers Kishore Chndra Deo (Araku), Killi Krupa Rani (Srikakulam), Pallam Raju (Kakinada), Panabaka Lakshmi (Bapatla) and Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy (Kurnool).

More than half of the 139 candidates announced for the assembly elections are new faces. The legislators won on Congress ticket in 2009 have since quit and joined the YSR Congress or the TDP.

Andhra Pradesh Congress chief N. Raghuveera Reddy is in the fray from Kalyandurg instead of the Penukonda assembly seat which he won in the last election.

Former state party chief Botsa Satyanarayana is seeking re-election from Cheepurapalle while assembly speaker N. Manohar is contesting again from Tenali.

Even after forging a last-minute alliance, the TDP and the BJP are finding it hard to get along. The Telugu Desam has criticised the BJP over its candidate selection in many constituencies and local TDP leaders filed nomination in some constituencies.

In Telangana, all the parties are trying to play the backward class card and the TDP overtook all by announcing backward class leader Krishnaiah as the chief minister candidate. However, TRS has withdrawn its earlier announcement of giving a backward class leader as the chief minister of the state.

Congress, which relies on the image of Chiranjeevi, received a setback when his small brother Pawan Kalyan who formed new party recently announced that he won’t field candidates, but would support BJP.

— news@khaleejtimes.com

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