It appears YSR Congress party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is facing the dearth of leaders who can give new ideas to the party to recoup itself and get back its glory.
He appears to be banking on the same old leaders who had misled him in the last five years, though displaying their unflinching loyalty to the party.
It is evident from the way he has been appointing leaders as district party presidents and constituency in-charges.
On Wednesday, Jagan appointed Ambati Rambabu as the president of YSRCP in Guntur district, Perni Nani as the party president of Krishna district and Devineni Avinash for NTR district.
Earlier, he appointed Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy for Tirupati and Chittoor districts, Kakani Goverdhan Reddy for common Nellore district, Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy for Palnadu district and Mudunuri Prasad Raju for West Godavari.
Jagan is expected to announce party presidents for a few more districts on Thursday. He called for a meeting of all senior leaders to the party office.
Even in the appointment of constituency in-charges, Jagan is banking on same old faces – like Modugula Venugopal Reddy for Guntur and Narasaraopet parliamentary constituencies and Adala Prabhakar Reddy for Nellore LS constituency.
While all these leaders are no doubt seniors and loyal to the party, they had a very bad reputation among the people as was evident in the recent elections.
It also shows Jagan doesn’t have any alternative leadership to encourage and hence, he is forced to depend on the old war horses.
Analysts say it would be better Jagan breathes fresh air into the party and restructure the party with youngsters and leaders brimming with new ideas, if he wants to make the party battle ready by next elections.