M D Ratna Kumar
Senior Journalist
Is the principal opposition party in Andhra Pradesh capable of unseating the Jaganmohan Reddy government by influencing the electorate on its own strength? Should it necessarily join hands with like- minded political forces for the purpose? Fighting the next Assembly elections is going to be quite different this time for former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, though he has been active in politics for more than four decades.
Naidu is currently going through a bad patch. It is different matter that he was a once considered a symbol of dynamism in politics. At one point of time, Chandrababu Naidu was the unchallenged ruler of the undivided state, with deft political strategies at his finger tips. Of course, there was significant difference between the situations faced by TDP during the regimes of N. T. Ramarao and Chandrababu Naidu.Naidu, in his first stint as the Chief Minister, had faced elections against then formidable Congress. The TDP had to fight the Congress, which was then truly a national party. Within the Congress, there were leaders who might have differed with the party leadership over a political fight with the TDP.
The popularity of the Congress party diminished following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. People of Andhra had apparently punished the Congress in the 2014 elections so much so that many candidates of the grand old party lost their deposits.
Naidu then had many friends. For example, during Naidu’s rule, former union minister and one among those who had worked on the draft bill relating to the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, Jairam Ramesh, (then secretary of AICC) had heaped praise on Naidu’s administrative skills at a seminar in Hyderabad. He had suggested that Naidu could be the answer to many of the pressing problems then.This view irked many Congress leaders, including Dr.YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who was then APCC president. Internal squabbles in Congress helped Naidu in diluting criticism against him by the grand old party.
Post bifurcation, Congress has almost disappeared in present AP and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has filled the resultant void. It is very hard now for Naidu to take on YSRCP, which is against the TDP. There is no chance of Naidu getting positive statements from YSRCP leaders on his policies and administrative skills. Naidu has to fight YSRCP with all his might.
In the post bifurcation period, Naidu has always fought the Congress with the support of other like-minded parties. In the 2014 elections too, he had the support of BJP. Naidu lost to YSRCP in the 2019 elections. YSRCP emerged victorious with a huge majority, securing 151 out of 175 seats.
The next elections are fast approaching, with the ruling and opposition parties launching strategies and counter strategies. YSRCP appears to be enjoying the support of a majority of people due to its populist welfare schemes that bring benefits to individuals with money getting deposited directly into their bank accounts. Jagan is confident of getting people’s support once again.
During the elections of 2019, Naidu had deposited Rs.20,000-Rs.30,000 into the accounts of every member of Self Help Groups even after the release of election notification. Yet, most of those members voted against Naidu. Having hopes on particular sections of society for votes may not be enough to win elections; for, nobody knows what influences voters at the eleventh hour. So, Naidu may want to go for support from like-minded parties. Jana Sena Party, headed by film star Pawan Kalyan, has declared that it would be game to prevent a split in anti-government votes. So, there could be an alliance between these two political forces. JSP is officially a friendly party of BJP, which is heading the government at the Centre.
There may be concrete efforts to bring TDP, JSP and BJP under one umbrella to fight YSRCP in the next elections. But individually all the three parties are proceeding as if they are not for truck with the other two parties. This tactic has robbed YSRCP of a chance to slam their coming together as ‘unholy alliance’.
