VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council election results may have played the last post on the bugle, signalling the end of Jaganmohan Reddy’s clout. The Opposition leader faced a humiliating defeat not only in the three MLC seats, but also lost his home turf Kadapa. Considered as the bastion of his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and family, right from sarpanch to MP, this is the first time the YSR Congress lost an election in Kadapa in 40 years.
In a recent media interview, Anantapur Telugu Desam MP J C Diwakar Reddy, who was once a close YSR confidant, had rightly pointed out: “Jaganmohan Reddy should stop drawing from the legacy of his father the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. He should come out of his father’s shadow at least and prove himself.”
This pretty much sums up the predicament of the YSRC chief, who has failed to win a single political game with TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Time and again, Naidu’s Machiavellian brain proved too much for Jagan. Once considered an alternative to Chandrababu Naidu, Jagan now appears to have completely lost his way in the imaginary power race.
His constant reference to his late father as the maha neta (great leader) in a bid to connect with the people failed to create any impact. The constituency’s loss indicates that all is not well in the YSRC.
According to analysts, the beginning of Jagan’s decline can be traced back to 2014. That year, while Naidu won 102 Assembly seats, Jagan got just 67 in the 175-member house. The TDP chief was considered a better leader than Jagan as after the state’s division, people favoured Naidu’s administrative experience. Had the state remained united, the polls could have gone either way.
Ever keen to occupy the chief minister’s post, Jagan is now reconciled to the reality that he would have to wait for five more years before he can make another attempt.
The first blow to the YSRC came even before the Telugu Desam government was formed on June 2 of 2014, as two of its MPs joined the TDP. Since 2014, Jagan has lost 21 of his legislators and two MPs to the TDP.
Though Jagan made all attempts to keep his flock together, he couldn’t stop the TDP from poaching. “We could not exploit the government’s failures to our advantage. We could not do much when Naidu compromised on the special category status and dithered on payment of unemployment to jobless youths, contrary to his earlier promises.
Though, we have made some noises, they were lost in the din that Naidu’s men created since they have more lung power,” said a YSRC leader.