While it was expected the Congress would face the ire of Andhra voters after bifurcation, none thought it would fall below NOTA.
Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Andhra Pradesh on 18 October. (Facebook/Bharat Jodo)
The Congress, dead and buried by people in Andhra following the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2014, is experiencing the first stirrings of hope with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra all set to enter the state on 18 October.
The grand old party wants to use the Special Category Status as the elixir for its resurrection in Andhra Pradesh.
Congress’ scion and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi might pull out the elixir and use it to help the party retrieve lost ground in the state, much as it has done in Kerala.
Andhra Pradesh was a Congress citadel for a long time. The party last won an election in the combined Andhra Pradesh in 2009.
After the bifurcation of the state, the people relegated the Congress to history’s dustbin, as a punishment for dividing the state and denying it a capital city.
It is now almost eight years that the party has been in suspended animation. In 2014 and 2019, after Telangana was carved out Andhra Pradesh, not even one candidate of the Congress could secure his or her deposit either in the 25 Lok Sabha or in the 175 Assembly constituencies.
It is against this background that Rahul Gandhi, who has embarked on the Bharat Jodo Yatra with a mission to revive his party across the country, will enter Andhra Pradesh.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh. (Facebook)
“The BJP had ditched Andhra Pradesh, by not according Special Category Status to AP after it came to power in 2014 at the Centre. After Congress comes to power in the next election, the first file that will be signed will be according Special Category Status to AP,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in Kurnool two days ago.
Ramesh, who was in Kurnool to oversee the arrangements for the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was instrumental in drafting the AP Reorganisation Act in 2014.
The Special Category Status was promised by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh on the floor of the Rajya Sabha in 2014 — but it still eludes Andhra Pradesh.
In the last elections in 2019, Special Category Status was one of the important politically rallying points in Andhra Pradesh.
While everyone expected that Congress would face the wrath of Andhra voters in the aftermath of the state’s bifurcation, none expected that the punishment would be so severe that it is no longer relevant. Its vote share fell lower than that of the None of the Above (NOTA) option in 2019.
In 2019, Congress polled 1.17percent votes in the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh as against NOTA’s 1.28 Percent and 1.29percent against NOTA’s 1.49 percent in the Lok Sabha segments.
In 2014, Congress’s overall vote share in Andhra Pradesh stood at 2.8 percent.
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