Chandrababu Naidu decided against contesting as in the event of the YSRCP winning the seat, it would bolster Jagan Mohan Reddy's image.
Published Aug 14, 2024 | 3:04 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 15, 2024 | 10:19 AM
N Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (X)
The YSRCP is having the last laugh after the TDP decided to give a go by to the by-election to the Legislative Council from the Visakhapatnam Local Authorities Constituency.
The YSRCP campaign, that if TDP contests the Visakhapatnam MLC by-election it would be but an endorsement of unethical politics, has paid off.
Now it is a walkover for YSRCP candidate and former minister Botcha Satyanarayana. There is only one independent — Shafiulla — in the fray.
The polling is scheduled for 30 August.
There are 830 voters in the constituency, of which more than 750 belong to the YSRCP while the NDA has about 220 voters. If the TDP has to win the seat, it would have to win over more than 300 voters which is considered very difficult.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who had debated on whether or not to contest the election, finally decided against it, as in the event of the YSRCP winning the seat, it would bolster Jagan Mohan Reddy’s image.
Naidu did not want to give a fresh lease of life to Jagan Mohan Reddy, who he calls a ghost, and create a problem for himself in future.
According to TDP sources, the party has decided to leave the seat uncontested as it was committed to values even though many voters were willing to don yellow robes.
The seat in the Legislative Council fell vacant after Ch Vamsi Krishna Srinivas Yadav was disqualified from the council. The action followed after he joined the Jana Sena Party.
He later won the Assembly election on a Jana Sena Party ticket from Visakhapatnam South by defeating YSRCP candidate Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar. The YSRCP has a majority in the Legislative Council with a strength of 39 of its total strength of 58 members.
Though nominations closed for the by-election on 13 August, there was no NDA candidate in the fray.
YSRCP candidate and former minister Satyanarayana filed his papers on 12 August and later asked the TDP to introspect whether it was proper for it to field a candidate when the majority of the voters belong to the YSRCP.
Jagan Mohan Reddy decided on Satyanarayana even though he belongs to the neighbouring Vizianagaram district because he is not only a powerful leader in his own right but is also from a well-to-do family and good at winning electoral battles.
The YSRCP chief preferred him to other aspirants Gudivada Amarnath, MVV Satyanarayana, and B Muthyala Raju, among others.
His defeat in the recent Assembly election was more an exception than rule. He lost the election from Cheepurupalli in Viziangaram district to TDP’s Kimidi Kala Venkata Rao by a margin of 11,971 votes.
The TDP’s decision apparently followed the realisation that the odds are stacked against it.
If the TDP has to win the seat, it would have to resort to the unethical practice of buying off the YSRCP voters which the TDP does not want to do, said party leaders.
It would be very inconsistent with its campaign that it was ushering in a new era in ethical politics after the devastating experience the state had gone through under the YSRCP regime.
At a recent meeting of the party leaders from North Andhra, Naidu appeared tormented by the dilemma of whether or not to contest the election.
At one stage he apparently felt that no election should be left uncontested. However, at another point, he felt that if the YSRCP wins, it would be like administering a dose of elixir to Jagan Mohan Reddy whose party is on life-support now.
Naidu was also aware that the YSRCP had already shifted its voters to camps. To poach them, the TDP would have to go through the cumbersome procedure of establishing contact with them and convince them that a better future awaits them if they vote in favour of its candidate.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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