HYDERABAD: DR YS Rajasekhara Reddy has achieved in Andhra Pradesh a distinction that no other Congress leader has managed in the last three decades by bringing the party to power for a second consecutive term.
The results, which came at the end of what was the most complicated election the State has ever seen, are bound to push his stock up in the party at the Central level even as he remains the one-man army for the Congress in the State.
Just as Reddy claimed after the polling was over, with lots of guts, that the responsibility for victory or defeat would be his, even his rivals admitted on Saturday that the credit for carving a comfortable majority in the Assembly and a landslide in respect of the Lok Sabha goes to him. This is for the first time after the advent of the Telugu Desam in the early 80s that the Congress retained power after a five-year rule.
But, what went so horribly wrong for the so-called Grand Alliance comprising not one but four parties -- the Telugu Desam, CPI, CPM and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi? The chief reasons appear to be: a) the much-talked about Cash Transfer Scheme proposed by the Telugu Desam has not worked among the people who were apparently happy with the host of welfare schemes already being implemented by the Congress regime: b) the pro-Telangana position taken by the Telugu Desam failed to convince even hardcore separatists as the party did nothing to lend its changed stance an element of credibility; c) the alliance has been seen more as a marriage of convenience so much so that transfer of vote has not taken place among the partners and d) last but not the least, the eroding faith of statehood votaries in the leadership of TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao.
As for the Praja Rajyam, the leadership never transformed it into a genuine political outfit so much so that even its architect, Chiranjeevi, had to taste defeat in his home district. That it remained a caste-based party, as many branded it, was evident from the results with a majority of the few, who were elected, belonging to only one community.
Today’s victory for Rajasekhara Reddy looks like a repeat of what happened in 1999 when the TDP managed 150 plus to get a second term and the Congress halted around 90. That the party has not done well in Telangana despite the fissures in Grand Alliance, that several ministers tasted defeat at the hands of the electorate and that a significant number of Congress candidates won with very narrow margins provide enough reasons for Rajasekhara Reddy to introspect as he runs the government for the next five years.