The political dust raised over cross voting during the recent MLC election under the MLAs quota, which has shaken the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), has not yet settled. It has, however, relegated core issues in Andhra Pradesh.
The political situation in Andhra Pradesh has taken a curious turn due to cross voting by four YSRCP MLAs that enabled opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate’s entry in the Upper House of the State Legislature. The TDP had 23 members in the Assembly, but four of them had switched loyalty to Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Surprisingly, these four are not in the eye of the political storm in the ruling party. Four MLAs who had been elected on YSRCP ticket are believed to have resorted to cross voting in the MLC election under the MLAs quota: Anam Ramanarayan Reddy (Venkatagiri), Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy (Nellore -rural), Mekapati Chandraskhar Reddy (Udayagiri), and Dr.Vundavalli Sridevi (Tadikonda). The first three belong to the powerful Reddy community, which had ruled the combined state of Andhra Pradesh for more than four decades.
Former minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy’s family has been in public life in Nellore district for nearly eight decades. He was a member in the first TDP government headed by N.T. Rama Rao. Political compulsions drove him towards the Congress. He later associated himself with Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy due to internal rivalry with former chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy. Ramanarayan could not get cabinet berth in YSR’s team at the beginning of 2004 due to internal politics in Nellore district. But YSR inducted him in the middle of 2007. Naturally, he felt insulted by the appointment of a member from N Janardhan Reddy’s family as in-charge (alternative leadership at the constituency level) for his segment – Venkatagiri. He was stripped of even in-charge post, though he had been expecting berth in Jagan’s team.
otamreddy Sridhar Reddy has been a staunch supporter of Jagan from the beginning. During the bypolls to certain seats following the resignation of YSRCP MLAs earlier, Kotamreddy was involved in a case relating to the ransacking of private properties of Reliance Industries owned by Mukesh Ambani. He is among numerous workers of YSRCP facing criminal cases. Jagan’s decision to allot a Rajya Sabha seat to Parimal Natwani, close associate of Mukhesh, resulted in heartburn within sections of the ruling party.
Another MLA from Nellore Mekapati Chandraskhar Reddy is also facing heat in the constituency as the party’s leadership is encouraging alternative leadership.
He has served as MLA during the YSR regime also and belongs to a prominent political family.
Although the three legislators hail from the Reddy community, their actions seem to help the Kamma community.
This vital point may become a key element in the hands of YSRCP to counter the strategy of TDP. Both the communities can scuttle the unity efforts of other communities, if one goes by what happened in the case of categorisation of reservations of Scheduled Castes. They undermined the unity efforts of the Scheduled Castes under the leadership of then BSP president Kanshi Ram during the 1994 Assembly elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Dr. Vundavalli Sridevi has been upset over the appointment of former minister Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad as the new in-charge for the Tadikonda constituency. She has declared her support to the farmers’ agitation for Amaravati as Capital of AP. The YSRCP leadership has already given them indications that they would not get tickets again.
Post cross voting, the leadership of YSRCP has made things easy for these four legislators, unlike in the case of LS member K Raghurama Krishnam Raju (Narasapuram), by suspending them, instead of trying for their disqualification. Both YSRCP and TDP have been claiming that “some more legislators are in touch with us” as part of their political games.
All in all, the cross voting has triggered a change in the political atmosphere. In view of the changed political atmosphere, crucial things like completion of the Polavaram project, getting SCS status for residual AP, and recovery of pending power bills to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees from neighbouring Telangana State have taken a backseat!
