BackYSRCP banks on Jagan Mohan’s ‘yatra’ to take on TDP
YSRCP is banking on party chief Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's mass connect campaign and the legacy of his father Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy to beat the ruling TDP in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections
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Hyderabad: With YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy having covered over 600 kilometres of his targeted 3,000-km Praja Sankalpa Yatra, the party is banking on his mass connect campaign and the legacy of his father Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) to beat the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections.
While Reddy has been able to draw large crowds during the programme, converting them into votes for the YSRCP will be a major challenge. So far, some of his biggest public meetings have been in the cities of Proddutur and Dharmavaram, said an official working with Reddy’s team for the padayatra.
He added that Reddy has been walking between 12-16km every day, and meeting various communities to ask them about issues and problems they are facing.
“Jagan Mohan Reddy is not a film star. Such big crowds do not come out generally for a politician and they will not even for chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. We are also increasing party members, as our membership drive is also on at the same time," said YSRCP Andhra Pradesh general secretary B. Karunakar Reddy. He added that Jagan Mohan Reddy’s padayatra is expected to finish by June 2018.
During his tour, one of the things Reddy has promised to give Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, backward caste and minority community women who are over 45 years a pension of Rs2,000 a month, which is reminiscent of populist schemes his father introduced when he was chief minister.
Lanka Dinakar, TDP spokesperson, criticized the campaign, and said that Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted to create “unproductive human resources" in the state through such schemes. “What is the message that he is trying to give? Middle-aged people need employment opportunities," he said.
Dinakar said that Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted to become the chief minister because he thought he deserved it and not because he wanted to solve problems. “He is making so many promises in his tour. This is the same man who said before the 2014 assembly elections that it will not be possible for the state government to provide pensions to the aged," he claimed.
In his tour so far, the YSRCP chief has completed 69 community meetings and 19 public meetings in 20 assembly constituencies he has walked across, with several more lined up for other constituencies in the coming months.
Though his padayatra is similar to that of his father, who had undertaken one before he became chief minister for the first time in 2004, the circumstances are different, as YSR had the advantage of 10 years of anti-incumbency against Naidu back then. The late Andhra Pradesh chief minister also concentrated on farmers and their problems then.
“Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy gained immensely from a visible anti-Chandrababu Naidu sentiment in 2004. It might not be easy for his son," pointed out political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy. He added that the youth had emerged as the most important constituency for any political party over the last decade.
Raghavendra Reddy also said that by inducting junior leaders and ministers in TDP to take on Jagan, Naidu was maintaining his appeal. “The ‘special status’ and future of Amaravati will be two key agenda points for the next elections in the state of Andhra Pradesh," he added.
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