Uncertainty about their future continues to haunt all the major political parties in Andhra Pradesh as they brace for the next round of Assembly/Lok Sabha polls. This anxiety is markedly visible as the leaders of these parties are battling the heavy odds facing them. Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is a worried man even as he ended his ‘Vastunna Meekosam’ yatra.
YSR Congress Party working president Y S Vijayamma launched ‘Rachabanda’ tour of the state the same day while her son and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganamohan Reddy remains in jail, awaiting bail in the disproportionate assets case. TRS founder K Chandrasekhar Rao has been reelected the party president for yet another term on April 27 though Telangana statehood remains as elusive as ever. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on his part, has been making whirlwind visits to the districts, braving the harsh summer, to revive the fortunes of the ruling Congress.
Chandrababu Naidu achieved the feat of undertaking the longest-ever padayatra by any leader in the state. He had set a record as the longest-serving chief minister in the state’s history. Now, he has added another ‘first’, as the longest-serving leader of the opposition! His party, which was trounced in May 2004 polls, has been out of power for nine years now. Despite his yatra, he is not very sure where his party stands vis-à-vis its main rivals.
He has to go a long way to refurbish the image of the party, re-establish his credibility, revive the party units at the grassroots level and galvanise the party cadres across the state to be able to pose a formidable challenge to its rivals in the next Assembly/Lok Sabha elections. The fact that the party, founded by matinee idol N T Rama Rao 31 years ago, has survived for 17 long years after the death of its charismatic leader is a record of sorts. But the TDP, under Naidu’s stewardship, cannot endlessly wait to regain power. If the party fails to put up a good show in the next elections, its future may turn bleak.
That the YSRCP, too, is passing through uncertain times is obvious. It is almost 11 months since Jagan was arrested by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case and remanded to judicial custody at Chanchalguda jail on May 27 last year. To cope up with the situation, his sister Sharmila launched her padayatra on October 18 last year. Now, their mother Vijayamma has embarked on another mass contact programme to hog the limelight and ensure that the YSR Congress remains in the ‘reckoning,’ even as Jagan awaits his trial with the CBI threatening to keep him in jail for longer duration by filing chargesheet after chargesheet in the special court.
YSRCP, which observed the second anniversary of its formation on March 12 this year, is forced to weigh various options if Jagan continues to be in jail. The party does not know whether it would be able to sustain its popularity among the people in case bail proves elusive for Jagan in the crucial months ahead of the polls.
As TRS observed the 13th formation day on Saturday, KCR vowed to continue the party’s struggle to achieve its singular agenda of statehood for Telangana. During the last nine years, he has fought many a battle and mounted pressure on the ruling Congress in the state and UPA government at the Centre to deliver on its promise to create Telangana state. Yet, the goal remains elusive as other parties are playing games to ensure that Telangana does not become a reality.
There is no guarantee that the battle for Telangana would end soon. It may turn out to be a long-drawn struggle, indeed. The Congress is likely to remain truant on this issue notwithstanding the deadlines set by KCR to deliver Telangana or face the wrath of people of the region. TRS also does not know for sure now as to which other party would turn out to be its main rival in the next elections.
The fact that TRS and YSRCP had swept the byelections in Telangana and Seemandhra respectively, barring in five Assembly constituencies (Nizamabad, Mahbubagar, Nagarkurnool, Ramachandrapuram and Narsapuram) held after 2009 does not mean that they would have easy time in the ensuing general elections. Neither YSR Congress nor TRS can take the challenge from TDP and Congress for granted. Over-confidence of their leaders may prove to be their undoing.
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