The ubiquitous ulavacharu has become an election campaign issue in Andhra Pradesh, where every party is appealing to parochial pride. Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has dared his Telangana counterpart, K Chandrasekhara Rao, not to ridicule his people’s affection for the yummy horse gram soup.
Ulavacharu is projected as a symbol of the state in a campaign largely focused on special status for Andhra Pradesh, a demand that dates from the bifurcation that led to the carving out of Telangana in 2014.
Politicians in Andhra Pradesh complain that the state had lost the erstwhile capital of Hyderabad and the adjacent Hi-Tech City to the new state. Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party often rakes up allegations that Telangana would next target the riches of the people of Andhra Pradesh.
The Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress are locked in a direct fight over the control of the 175-member state legislative assembly. Matinee idol Pavan Kalyan’s Jana Sena party has risen to a challenging force with the support of left parties including the CPM and the CPI.
Election to the 25 Lok Sabha seats are also held in similar lines, with national parties including the BJP and the Congress relegated to the sidelines. The first phase of the election will be held on April 11.
The ruling party and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress are fighting it out in most of the constituencies in the state. The equations have changed since 2014, when the TDP was a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Currently, Naidu is one of the prominent leaders of the united opposition at the national level. Top leaders such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee are campaigning for Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.
Supported by the BJP and Jana Sena in 2014, the TDP won 103 seats, with a vote share of 32.5 percent votes. Though the YSR Congress secured 32.01 percent of votes, it won only 66 seats. The TDP won 16 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats and ally BJP two. The YSR Congress elected seven MPs.
Jana Sena, the party floated by megastar Chiranjeevi’s younger brother, is a formidable force in East Godavari and West Godavari districts. The party has successfully tapped into the vote banks abandoned by Chiranjeevi as he migrated to the Congress and to relative obscurity.
At its peak, Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam won 19 assembly seats in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and lost 40 seats by just under 5,000 votes. If Jana Sena can claim that legacy, it could be a crucial player in a hung assembly.
The YSR Congress has claimed the loyalty of the Reddy community, a traditional Congress vote bank. Khammas have always stood by the TDP. The balance of communities have put the Kapus in the limelight. The agrarian community that was inclined towards the TDP was seen drifting towards the Jana Sena.
Jagan Mohan’s track record is anything but clean. The son of the late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Jagan Mohan faces about 30 cases of corruption. The TDP government also faces allegations of corruption, despite Naidu’s pan-Indian image as an able administrator. Naidu also created some bad vibes when he pushed his inexperienced son, Lokesh, to the ministry.
His promises to develop Amaravati into a state-of-the-art capital city and secure special status for the state have remained undelivered.
Jagan Mohan’s position is further compromised by the assassination of his uncle Vivekananda Reddy, a former minister, at Pulivendula in Kadap. Naidu has vowed to contain the murderous mafia politics of Pulivendula, the home turf of Jagan Mohan and family.
Naidu has reasons to worry, too, given the public backlash over the leak of citizen’s personal data.
Naidu alleges that Jagan Mohan is a close confidant of the Telangana chief minister. Pavan Kalyan is harsh on Jagan Mohan but tellingly soft on Naidu.
Jagan Mohan, however, is too early to be written off. He has followed in the footsteps of his popular father, who returned the Congress to power in the undivided Andhra Pradesh after walking 1,400 kilometres to the state. Jagan Mohan has covered almost double that distance in the runup to the election.
His election promises, packaged as ‘Navaratna’, have been noted. He is counting on the support base in the Rayalaseema region the rural areas of central Andhra. The opinion polls point to gains by his party.
The 9-year-old YSR Congress is desperate for power to keep the flock together. Jagan Mohan cannot wait for another five years to taste power.
The Congress is in a difficult spot in Andhra Pradesh. The party-led government at the centre allowed the division of the state in 2004. Many of its senior leaders in the state left in protest of the decision. The party tried to team up with the TDP in the assembly election in Telangana but is on its own in Andhra Pradesh. The party is still without leadership even though former chief minister Kiran Kumar has returned to the party fold.
National leaders including former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy is faced with a herculean task of building the party from scratch.
The BJP is in no better shape. It managed to win just two seat from the state in the 2014 general election when it was an ally of the TDP. The only notable leader is Purandeswari, the daughter of Telugu Desam founder N T Rama Rao.
The party is secretly counting on Jagan Mohan to make an arrangement. The YSR Congress leader has pledged his support to any party that announced a special package for the state. One of the party’s candidates is yesteryear actor Roja, the sitting MLA in Nagari near Tirupati.
