The electoral fight in Andhra Pradesh resembles the hurly-burly of a real battlefield, where tempers run high, and emotions get the better of sensibilities.
N Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. (X)
The election heat in Andhra Pradesh is matching the summer sun beating down on the state as political parties slug it out ahead of the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections on 13 May.
Both YSRCP and TDP and its allies are making a last-ditch effort to win the people’s hearts. The electoral fight in Andhra Pradesh resembles the hurly-burly of a real battlefield, where tempers run high, and emotions get the better of sensibilities. The tension is palpable.
After naming the candidates, YSRCP and its rival TDP-Jana Sena-BJP combine have hit the ground, unleashing strategies and counter-strategies to outsmart each other in winning the attention and affection of the electorate.
The foot soldiers had started marching much earlier, preparing the ground for the final push. The sentries of rival political formations are on alert 24/7, looking for chinks in the enemy’s armour — “blunders” that they could exploit.
YSRCP’s commander-in-chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is crisscrossing the state with his Memantha Siddham (We are all ready) yatra, while TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu is on the field amplifying his Praja Galam (people’s voice).
Naidu kicked off his campaign a few days ago in Chittoor district, where he called Jagan a traitor of Rayalaseema for neglecting the irrigation sector and blamed him for the unabated flow of spurious liquor, sale of ganja and other drugs.
At a Memantha Siddham rally, Jagan, apart from raising other issues, fired a volley at Naidu for the removal of the village volunteer system. The Election Commission, the chief minister said, eliminated the system on a complaint by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, a Naidu aide.
Jagan declared that his priority after retaining power would be the restoration of the volunteer system since he could not let the elderly suffer. As many as 31 aged persons died due to sunstroke while trying to reach the pension disbursal offices, he claimed and put the blame on Naidu’s shoulders.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau and AP State Disaster Management Authority, a total of 1,788 people in Andhra lost their lives to heat/sunstroke between 2014 and 2023.
Other issues in the spotlight include the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy, brother of the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy.
All other issues, including three capitals, alleged injustice meted out to farmers who gave up their lands for developing the state capital at Amaravati, and even Naidu’s arrest, have taken a back seat.
Regarding welfare pensions, both TDP and YSRCP are trying to make the best use of the Election Commission’s 30 March guidelines that the 2.6 lakh village volunteers force should not be deployed for the payment of pensions.
The ECI also ordered that alternative arrangements should be made for the disbursal of pensions.
Despite the poll panel suggesting alternative arrangements, the YSRCP blamed the TDP for the pensions under 16 categories not reaching the beneficiaries’ doorsteps on time. The YSRCP leaders found fault with the TDP for going to the Election Commission and getting a directive against village volunteers, who distributed pensions for the past 56 months.
Pensioners are now forced to travel to reach the pension disbursal offices under the scorching heat. Additionally, pension amounts were not paid to them on the 1st of April for the first time.
Most beneficiaries used to get their pensions at home with the volunteers, armed with mobiles and laptops, who visited them. Over some time, they had forgotten where the offices they have to approach to get their pension.
Physically-challenged people and the elderly are the most affected.
Political analysts felt the TDP made a mistake by going to the poll panel against the volunteer system.
Naidu is now trying to make amends. He said he would retain the entire volunteer force and hike their salaries after coming to power.
Jagan, too, promised to reinstate the entire workforce.
“There might be arguments for and against the removal of volunteers. There might be strength in both arguments. But for the pensioner, what matters is whether he is getting his pension or not. He has been getting it on the first of every month. This month, it was not been delivered to him at his doorstep,” political analyst Telakapalli Ravi said.
“Additionally, he has to go in search of pension offices to collect the money. The beneficiaries’ anger for the delay might hurt the electoral interests of Chandrababu Naidu,” he felt.
Ravi said the YSRCP shrewdly used the Election Commission directive to its advantage.
Realising that a vast population has been affected, the YSRC is blaming the TDP. As it is a fact that the senior citizens and others have not received their pension amount on the first, they tend to believe the YSRCP argument.
Prof DAR Subrahmanyam, chairman of Navyandhra Intellectuals Forum, concurred: “Chandrababu Naidu committed a mistake which might cost him dearly. The people are unhappy since they have to visit the disbursal centres under the scorching heat to collect their money.”
He opined that the Election Commission should have taken into consideration the lack of time in making alternative arrangements before issuing the order.
“The order came on 30 March, Saturday, and the following day was Sunday. On 1 April, payment had to be made. How could alternative arrangements be made overnight,” he asked.
A question being raised, particularly in the Rayalaseema region, is who had killed YS Vivekananda Reddy, Jagan’s paternal uncle. Though the sitting MP YS Avinash Reddy is under a cloud of suspicion, the YSRCP maintained that he is as clean as a whistle.
But the TDP, Jagan’s sister and APCC president YS Sharmila, and Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter N Sunitha refuted the YSRCP claim and held Avinash Reddy “guilty” and called Jagan an “abettor” to the crime.
In the Rayalaseema area, the issue is widely discussed as the YSR family is identified with the region.
Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered on 19 March 2019, ahead of the general elections in his residence in the Kadapa district. The case is under the CBI probe.
“The suspected role of Avinash Reddy in the murder and the alleged abettor part played by Jagan Mohan Reddy might cost the YSRCP dearly,” Subrahmanyam said.
“In 2019 elections, the YSRCP won 49 seats in Rayalaseema and this time there might be a cut of about 15 to 16 seats in the YSRCP’s tally. In Rayalaseema, it appears the people are angry with Jagan for allegedly abetting the assassination of his uncle. They may vent their anger by voting against him,” he opined.
The TDP is continuously pounding the YSRCP over the assassination even as Sunitha teamed up with Sharmila.
On the other hand, Jagan blames the TDP for his uncle’s murder. He had said that the assassination took place during the tenure of former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and therefore the involvement of the TDP leaders could not be ruled out.
Other issues being highlighted in Jagan’s campaign are mainly the welfare schemes implementation in the state.
Interestingly, he is speaking less about corruption allegations against Naidu but more about how the former chief minister was trying to put a spanner in the implementation of welfare programmes. The skill development scam, in which Naidu was arrested, has hardly become a poll issue.
Naidu, however, is targeting Jagan for neglecting the irrigation sector, particularly in the perennially drought-hit Rayalaseema region and repeatedly hits out at him for leading the state to a debt trap.
But Naidu of late is steering clear of the capital issue and the perceived injustice done to Amaravati farmers, who had given up their lands when the TDP was in power between 2014 and 2019.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
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