After facing a debacle of monumental proportions, YSRCP chief is keen that he should not be seen as a loner.
Published Aug 07, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 07, 2024 | 9:00 AM
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Supplied)
Is former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy projecting himself to both the INDIA Bloc and the NDA that, if one turns him away, he has the support of the other?
About a week ago, YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, setting off speculation that the party was trying to move closer to the BJP, despite being fully aware of the fact that its political rivals – TDP and the Jana Sena – are already in the NDA orbit.
Earlier, when Jagan Mohan Reddy organised a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, ostensibly to condemn the wave of terror that the TDP allegedly unleashed against the YSRCP activists, non-Congress constituents of the INDIA bloc visited him.
The analysts saw it as a clever move to send a message to the BJP that he was not a loner and that he was not at its mercy anymore since he has the India Bloc to lean back upon though he does not want to break away from the saffron party. Though the Congress and NDA constituents did not turn up at the protest, non-Congress parties of the India bloc did attend, albeit in their individual capacity, which came as a shot in the arm for Jagan Mohan Reddy.
After facing a debacle of monumental proportions in the recent Assembly elections, the YSRCP chief is keen that he should not be seen as a loner, because, he neither belonged to the BJP nor the INDIA bloc till the Assembly elections.
He has valid reasons not to team up with either of them, at least publicly. He did not bother much about the Congress since the party is his rival and ahead of the Assembly elections, his own sister YS Sharmila was appointed the president of the APCC. While the Congress contested against the YSRCP across the state, Jagan’s sister Sharmila herself contested unsuccessfully against YSRCP candidate Avinash Reddy from Kadapa.
For the last five years, Jagan Mohan Reddy was averse to be seen in the presence of the BJP in the open, lest he lose the support of the minority vote bank. Regardless, he remained the BJP’s covert all-weather friend all along, supporting all its bills in Parliament and never embarrassing the top brass even once, despite provocation from state level leaders.
The reasons for being nice to the BJP are not hard to find. He needs the support of the saffron party, as the CBI cases against him are still pending in the court. After the Assembly elections, the patterns in the political kaleidoscope altered completely. Jagan Mohan Reddy not only lost the election to Chandrababu Naidu et al but the fate had made the current Andhra CM stronger even at Delhi – as his support became indispensable for the survival of the BJP-led NDA government at the centre.
Jagan Mohan Reddy was unhappy over the last-minute decision of the BJP to team up with TDP and Jana Sena in Andhra, the two parties he hated most in his life, and wondered what kind of a reward it was for him from the BJP, whom he had trusted totally for five long years.
Nonetheless, he bit the bullet and fought the election hoping to win the election at least with a slender majority after seeing the TDP wave beginning to rise in the state. But, unfortunately, the wave turned out to be a tidal wave, inflicting an unprecedented and colossal defeat for him.
Though the BJP appeared to be a good friend, it encouraged Chandrababu Naidu at the same time, all through the years of Jagan Mohan Reddy’s dispensation. It became an eye sore for Jagan. but he did not show it as he knew it pays to have a tight lid on his emotions.
However, the BJP had no great reason to align with either the TDP or the YSRCP as its stakes in the state were limited. But the leaders of both the parties were made to believe that BJP was very close to them, just because the saffron party played its cards not to antagonise either of them, not knowing who would come in handy on the day of reckoning.
The BJP’s game plan paid off when it fell short of numbers to from the government at the centre. Chandrababu Naidu became the saviour for the NDA with securing 16 of the 25 seats, besides his ally Jana Sena, which won two seats, while Jagan Mohan Reddy won just four seats. The remaining two seats went to the BJP.
In his anxiety not to lose the BJP, Jagan Mohan Reddy pledged his support to the NDA’s candidate for speaker’s post, though NDA had requisite numbers on its own. Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to remain a major force in the sate as the TDP and Jana Sena, who have been baying for his blood all along, began turning the heat on him after coming to power.
To begin with, the ruling coalition sought to break his morale by demolishing YSRCP central office, which was under construction in Tadepalli near Vijayawada claiming that it was an illegal construction. Later on, at the ground level, the YSRCP said that the TDP cadres became very aggressive, trying to settle political scores.
Another interesting dimension to insecurity that Jagan has been feeling was evident from the fact that he had moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking restoration of Z-plus security that he used to have before the elections. In his petition, he alleged that he was facing threat to his life and that the state government had not properly assessed the risk.
The YSRCP chief said that the government had not taken the threats of the TDP leaders seriously. The government withdrew security both at his home and at the office and there were only two security officials to protect him. The bullet proof car that was given to him was giving trouble frequently and that he was not being allowed to use his own bullet proof vehicle, the YSRCP chief alleged in his petition.
Political analysts dismiss Jagan Mohan Reddy’s paranoia about threat to his life as far-fetched and affected. “Who is going to harm him anyway? Where is the need for the TDP leaders to go to this extreme? It is just a show to make the people believe that he was still relevant in Andhra Pradesh politics,” says political analyst and academician Prof D AR Subrahmanyam.
He also added that if YSRCP leaders meet Amit Shah or any other top functionary of the BJP, it is only to keep their relations warm.
According to him, the BJP still has a good rapport with the YSRCP as it had when Jagan Mohan Reddy was in power and would continue to have it, despite the fact that it may not be palatable to Chandrababu Naidu.
“The BJP would allow the YSRCP as much space as is possible without Chandrababu Naidu getting upset. The BJP never distanced the YSRCP and would never do it in the future though it may not be to the level it used to be because it is not in power anymore. The BJP would continue to be nice to Jagan Mohan Reddy and would be forced to be nice to Chandrababu Naidu,” he says.
(Edited by Neena)
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