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Taking a cue from KCR’s defeat, Jagan contemplates drastic changes in candidates in Andhra polls
Though Jagan was initially hesitant to make major changes in the list of poll candidates, he has changed his mind after watching the outcome of the recent assembly elections in Telangana
Hyderabad : With three months left for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress Party president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has embarked on making drastic changes in the list of candidates to improve the winning prospects of the party, according to party leaders familiar with the development.
The changes include dropping of several sitting MLAs who have bleak chances of winning and reshuffling the constituencies of some other MLAs, besides fielding a few MPs in the assembly polls and a few MLAs in Lok Sabha elections.
According to a senior YSRCP leader, Jagan is likely to drop at least 30-35 sitting MLAs and reshuffle the constituencies of another 30 candidates. “He has taken the decision based on periodical surveys commissioned by the party, apart from the field surveys conducted by the teams of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), engaged by the party for working out strategies for the upcoming elections,” he said.
The chief minister has been indicating to the MLAs about their performance or lack of it during the review meetings at regular intervals in the last six months. “Now that elections are fast approaching, he is holding meetings with the non-performing MLAs individually and indicating to them that they might not get tickets this time. He, however, has been assuring them that the party would duly acknowledge their services in the coming days,” the party leader quoted above said.
Though Jagan was initially hesitant to make major changes in the list of candidates contesting the elections, he has changed his mind after watching the outcome of the recent assembly elections in Telangana. His erstwhile Telangana counterpart and Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrashekar Rao was also reluctant to make any changes in the list of candidates, as he was under the impression that the people would vote for his party by looking at his image and stature, irrespective of the anti-incumbency against his party MLAs.
“That is why KCR did not change the candidates in 95 per cent of the constituencies, despite the intelligence reports that all is not well with the party at the grassroots level because of the MLAs. He announced the candidates’ names well in advance. That led to his party’s debacle. In Andhra Pradesh, too, Jagan had been under the impression that his image and his welfare schemes would fetch him victory again. But after seeing KCR’s debacle, Jagan changed mind and is contemplating changes in the candidates, based on the I-PAC feedback,” political analyst Kandula Ramesh said.
Within a week of the Telangana assembly election results, Jagan changed party candidates in 10 assembly constituencies, including droppings a few MLAs. For example, in Mangalagiri constituency, he denied the party ticket to sitting MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy and replaced him with an OBC candidate Ganji Chiranjeevi. Reddy resigned from the assembly membership as well as party.
He made changes in Gajuwaka, Prathipadu (SC), Yerragondapalem, Vemuru (SC), Santhanuthalapadu (SC), Chilakaluripet, Guntur (West), Addanki, Pedakurapadu and Repalle.
According to the YSRCP leader quoted above, the party president is planning to make major changes in erstwhile combined East Godavari and West Godavari districts, which account for 35 assembly constituencies, following reports that the TDP-Jana Sena Party combined have regained a lot of ground in the last few months there.
YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the reshuffle of party in-charges in some assembly constituencies was purely an internal exercise, based on surveys intended to achieve better results in the 2024 elections.
“The chief minister has already given a firm assurance to the candidates being replaced that the party will duly acknowledge their contribution and utilise their services in a suitable manner. He will not ignore the services of any leader,” he said, adding that there is absolutely no disgruntlement in the party.
TDP state president K Atchannaidu said the fact that the YSRCP started dropping some MLAs and making changes in some other constituencies showed that Jagan was not confident of his party’s victory in the coming elections.
“He is afraid of growing anti-incumbency against his party MLAs. But any such changes will hardly improve his party’s prospects. The TDP is going to come to power as the people have made up their mind to pull down the Jagan government,” Atchannaidu said.
