As the year 2023 comes to a close, political atmosphere in Andhra Pradesh is getting heated up with political parties gearing up for the mega electoral battle scheduled to be held in the last week of March or first week of April.
The outgoing year witnessed an intense war of one-upmanship between the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
While Jagan has stepped up his efforts to reach out to the people and win their confidence again to come to back to power for the second consecutive year, Naidu had to face a turbulent period of his life, both personally and politically.
The year started on a bad note for Naidu with the death of three people at a stampede at his public rally in Guntur on January 1, within three of eight people succumbing to a similar stampede at Kandukuru in Ongole district, forcing the Jagan Mohan Reddy government issuing an order banning roadshows, public rallies and political processions on roads, including state and national highways.
Within a day of issuance of the GO, the police enforced the order strictly to prevent the public rally of Naidu during his three-day tour at his constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district from January 4 to 6.
The police seized his campaign vehicle, snatched the microphones and erected barricades all along the route and even resorted to lathi charge to disperse hundreds of TDP workers who tried to take out a rally in the constituency along with Naidu.
Though the Jagan government had to rescind the GO following a high court order, the restrictions on Naidu’s rallies continued in one form or the other.
When his son Nara Lokesh embarked on a marathon padayatra from January 27, too, he had to face a lot of restrictions from the police, as well as disturbances from the YSRCP leaders.
The TDP chief addressed a series of public rallies and road shows in the name of “Badude Badudu” and “Bhavishyathuku Guantee,” had to encounter disturbances at several places. His rallies at Angallu and Punganuru turned violent, leading to the police booking attempt to murder case against him.
The biggest trouble Naidu had to encounter was his arrest by the CID police in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development corporation scam during his regime. He was lodged in Rajahmundry central jail for nearly two months, before being released first on medical grounds and later on regular bail in the last week of October.
Nevertheless, the TDP chief has managed to gain a lot lost of ground in the last one year through various programmes, like Mahanadu held in May, where he announced his mini manifesto, Lokesh’s padayatra and agitations across the state following his arrest.
In an obvious attempt to grab power in 2024, Naidu has not left any stone unturned, as he forged an alliance with Jana Sena Party led by actor Pawan Kalyan and used all his chances to revive the alliance with the BJP.
At the year is coming to a close, Naidu struck a deal with leading political strategist Prashant Kishor to see that the TDP will return to power at any cost in 2024 assembly elections.
On the other hand, the YSRCP has intensified its public outreach programmes like Gadapa Gadapaku Prabhutvam, Why Not 175, Why AP needs Jagan, Jagananne Maa Bhavishyathu etc. By conducting periodical reviews on the implementation of these programmes, Jagan has regularly assessed the performance of his party MLAs, MPs and other leaders.
He also made his party leaders from weaker sections to take up mass-based Samajika Sadhikara Yatra to explain to the people what kind of initiatives his government had taken for SCs, STs and OBCs.
At the same time, Jagan stepped up implementation of his welfare agenda by enhancement of social security pensions, launching new schemes like Jagananna Suraksha, Jaganannaku Chebudam, Adudam Andhra and Spandana programmes.
On the development front, too, Jagan tried to prove a point by hosting the first-ever Global Investors Summit (GIS) at Visakhapatnam in March, where he signed several MoUs with various industrial groups for various projects, some which were grounded like Rs 4,362crore Mulapeta Port, Rs 4,592 crore Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport and Rs 21,844 crore Vizag Tech Park.
However, some of the decisions of Jagan kicked controversy and were caught in legal wrangles.
For example, his government’s attempt to allocate house sites for the poor in the lands meant for Amaravati capital city and construct houses evoked massive resistance from the local farmers, who got the move stalled by approaching the high court and then Supreme Court.
Similarly, his attempts to shift the state administration from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam in the name of shifting the camp offices of CMO and ministers for reviewing developmental works in north Andhra also backfired. The massive destruction of forest cover and construction of official complex on Rishikonda are also facing legal hurdles.
On the political front, too, Jagan faced some serious challenges. The loss of legislative council elections was a big blow to his image. Four of his party MLAs cross voted for the TDP candidate Panchumarthi Anuradha, leading to her victory. They had to be suspended from the party.
As the year is coming to a close, the YSRC chief is facing a tough task in the selection on of candidates for the upcoming elections. He is proposing to make massive changes in the list of candidates by dropping some MLAs, reshuffling the constituencies of other MLAs, forcing the MPs to contest the assembly elections and asking some MLAs to fight the Lok Sabha polls.
But there have been reports of the resistance, revolts and dissidence in the party. A couple of MLAs and an MLC have already resigned from the party in protest against denial of the tickets.
It remains to be seen how Jagan is going to tackle these problems and whether he will be able to retain power in the next elections.