Two and a half years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress is dead as a dodo in the truncated state.
In the 2014 election held after the bifurcation bill was passed in Parliament, the TDP won 102 Assembly seats and its ally BJP four, together claiming a vote share of 47.7 per cent. Their nearest rival YSR Congress took 45.4 per cent of the vote and won 67 seats. The Congress polled just 2.8 per cent of votes and could not win even a single seat. There could not have been a worse drubbing: 150 of the 175 Congress candidates lost their security deposits.
Elections to 11 municipal corporations and municipalities early next year will show us whether the Congress can come back to life. "We will contest the elections. We will make a difference," said a PCC spokesperson but his voice lacked conviction.
Defections have depleted the ranks of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh. Leaders like D Puranadeswari, K S Rao and Kanna Lakshminarayana went to the BJP, others like Botcha Satyanaryana flocked to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. The party is now left with only N Raghuveera Reddy the PCC president, M M Pallam Raju and KVP Ramachandra Rao.
"We will bounce back. Our agitation programmes are finding support from the people," said a leader of the party while Raghuveera Reddy says the fight will continue.