Tirupati bypoll: An acid test for Andhra Opposition
Poll fever has gripped Andhra Pradesh again even before the dust settled after elections to panchayats and municipalities. All eyes are on the April 17 by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha (SC reserved) constituency, which was necessitated due to the untimely demise of sitting YSRC MP Balli Durgaprasad Rao last year. On the face of it, it looks like a walk in the park for the YSRC, which is riding high on its landslide in the local polls. So confident is it of its candidate Goorumurthy’s win that it is eyeing an over three lakh majority—up from 2.28 lakh in 2019.
There are many things going for it, the most important being Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s popularity and the delivery of welfare schemes. Besides, it won the seat in 2014 too garnering a 47.84% vote share and increased it to 55.03% in 2019. To turn the tide would be a Herculean task for the opposition. The TDP, which has fielded time-tested candidate Panabaka Lakshmi, will be going into the fray with its back to the wall after a string of defeats from 2019 to the more recent local polls. Nonetheless, determined to put up a strong fight, it has deputed 170 in-charges and coordinators. Party insiders believe it could be a moral victory if the TDP can at least bring down the winning margin of the YSRC, which has an unassailable lead among SCs who constitute a major chunk of the voters.
The BJP-Jana Sena combine could also dent the TDP’s prospects. The alliance has fielded former Karnataka chief secretary Ratna Prabha and has been carrying on a campaign centred around the Centre’s programmes. In 2019, the BJP managed just 16,000-odd votes. This time, it hopes actor Pawan Kalyan’s charisma could do wonders. It will be a massive boost for the party if it can come runners-up. That may, however, be difficult given the deep dissatisfaction people have over its failed promises dating back to the bifurcation of the state, not to forget the rising fuel prices. But more importantly, the fissures within the alliance could nullify all its strategies. The bypoll is indeed an acid test, not for the YSRC, but for the opposition.