For 2024 AP poll, Jagan looking to project father YSR as trump card

The next Andhra Pradesh Assembly election may still be two years away, but the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRC) is already setting the pitch for the poll battle, which is in sharp contrast with the one it successfully experimented with during the last state election. Ahead of the elections due in 2024, the party seems to have planned a radical shift in its poll strategy from the current Jagan-centric political discourse to the legacy politics revolving around YS Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR), father of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Recent developments hint at the party’s intent to project YSR as its trump card in order to come back to power for the second term. On September 21, the Jagan government set the cat among opposition Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) pigeons by piloting a bill in the state assembly seeking to replace the name of Dr. NTR Health University with Dr. YSR. Five days later, Dadisetti Ramalingeswara Rao alias Raja attempted to accord demigod status to late YSR, former CM of the Congress, who was killed in a chopper crash in 2009, by spurning NT Rama Rao (NTR), a charismatic figure in Tollywood and the TDP founder.

Also read: Jagan’s move to drop ‘NTR’ from varsity opens bigger battles

“There is no match between YSR and NTR. After all, NTR was the most incapable person, falling prey to backstabbing politics twice (once at the hands of Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, second-in-command in his government way back in August, 1984, and later at the hands of his son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu in the same month in 1995),” said Raja. The minister sang paeans to YSR, describing him as a towering leader of the masses, who had a humane face.

The NTR vs YSR narrative

These two instances set off a raging debate centering around the two personalities from different family backgrounds representing rival political parties. YSR was a diehard Congressman, who was known as a perennial dissident within his party. He came from Rayalaseema’s notorious factions; his father Raja Reddy was killed in faction feuds in his native Kadapa district.

Hailing from Nimmakuru in coastal Andhra region, NTR, however, took a plunge into politics from the film field. After the Nadendla’s coup against his government, NTR emerged as a rallying point for all the anti-Congress opposition parties, breaking the Congress monopoly in national politics. After he lost power to his son-in-law in another coup, a section of leaders from the TDP, led by Naidu, took refuge in the Congress under YSR leadership.

NTR’s widow, Lakshmi Parvathi, is currently heading the Telugu Academy while another admirer, Y Lakshmipathi (YLP), was appointed Chairman of the Official Language Commission in the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. YLP quit his post a few days ago, unable to digest the dropping of NTR’s name from the health university. Assembly Speaker T Sitaram also defected from the TDP.

Aided by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, the Jagan camp was at its best alienating Naidu from the admirers of NTR spread across Andhra and Telangana, holding him responsible for his mentor not being honoured with Bharat Ratna posthumously. To pursue this objective Jagan’s camp sought to see both NTR and YSR on the same page, projecting them as saviours of the poor. The move is ostensibly aimed to wean away Kammas, an affluent community which treats NTR as their icon, from the TDP fold and also his admirers. This card worked to some extent in the elections in 2019 that indicated the Jagan’s landslide victory.

Also read: Jagan Mohan Reddy targets Chandrababu Naidu on latters home turf

Discarding YSR in 2019 polls

Jagan drew lessons from his party’s rout in 2014 elections, which he fought with a promise to deliver Rajanna Rajyam, a welfare state, replicating the one YSR delivered during his stint as the CM, with greater space for Christians and Muslim minorities. YSR himself was a converted Christian. During his regime, YSS has implemented a slew of welfare schemes such as Rajiv Aarogyasri, fee reimbursement for students of professional colleges and free power for agriculture.

The YSR Congress tried to take a leaf out of YSR’s book in that election but its plans came cropper at the hustings. When Jagan was in jail for 16 months in connection with charges of money-laundering and acquisition of illicit wealth, his mother Vijayamma and sister Sharmila, presently leading YSR Congress Telangana Party inTelangana, campaigned for the party with Bible in hands.

This strategy failed to work, as the majority Hindus did not vote for the YSRCP. This indicated the ignominious defeat of Vijayamma, the party honourary president then, at the hands of BJP candidate K Haribabu in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha segment. The defeat has led Jagan to realize the fact that his father YSR was dated.

Jagan as his party’s poster boy

Subsequently, Jagan has got out of his father’s shadow to emerge as a self-made leader in 2019 elections through his marathon Praja Sankalpa Yatra with a catchy slogan – Jagan Kavali and Jagan Ravali, replacing his early promise of Rajanna Rajyam as per Kishor’s advice, observed an analyst with YSRC’s leanings.

Consequently, Jagan has created his own brand in his three years of rule, with several schemes bearing the imprint of his name. The schemes include Jagananna Amma Vodi, which extends financial assistance of Rs 15,000 to each school-going child; Jagananna Vasati Deevena; Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Jagananna Chedodu, Jagananna Thodu, Jagananna Gorumudda and Jagananna Vidya Kanuka.

Change in the perception battle?

Jagan has seemingly been leaning back to his father YSR now as Naidu got back to his mentor NTR after his rout in 2004. Reddy’s U-turn has left several sections disappointed, with his three-year rule triggering strong anti-incumbency, an analyst Raka Sudhakar, told The Federal.

In the last three years, the image of Jaganmohan Reddy as a messiah of the poor has reportedly begun to take a beating. As a senior YSR Congress leader, considered to be a party’s think tank put it, the positive side of the government gets adversely impacted by “lumpen” elements mobbing around Jagan Reddy. Besides, charges of corruption in the government that forced Jagan to drop a good number of ministers in his recent cabinet reshuffle also dented Reddy’s image, it is said.

Faced with the cash-starved state finances, the Jagan Reddy government keeps pumping in huge amount of money into welfare schemes. But the satisfaction levels among the beneficiaries appeared to be quite disheartening.

Also read: Jagan’s Mission 175 leaves Chandrababu struggling to save Kuppam turf

According to official data, the government spent Rs 2.70 lakh crore on welfare schemes from June 2019 to August 2022. The YSRC government’s heavy tilt towards welfare at the cost of development apparently leaves heartburn among middle and upper middle class sections, which constitute 20 percent of the state’s populace, CPI-M leader Ch. Babu Rao told The Federal. As welfare takes top priority over the infrastructure development and industrial growth under the Jagan’s regime, youths are getting disillusioned. Besides, the eligibility criteria with lot of restrictions for availing the welfare schemes, leaves several people high and dry.

Dysfunctional party leadership

What is appalling is that the party top brass in the YSRC party became almost dysfunctional down the line after it came to power. The strengthening of the party is no longer the priority as Jagan wanted to run the show with one or two advisors, even keeping his cabinet ministers in the dark.

The Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam—which means ‘our government to every doorstep’ in Telugu — a marathon programme launched on May 11, has exposed the limitations and loopholes of the party’s organization, as well as the style of functioning of its lawmakers. The programme aimed to take feedback from the people on welfare schemes through party legislators and workers. But this objective was not met because of the poor participation of party workers. Even the CM, at a review meeting a few days back, identified these shortcomings and told nearly 30 lawmakers to improve their performance in their respective assembly segments.

NTR died nearly three decades ago. And the new generation is hardly aware of him. YSR, on the other hand, is still relevant as a vast number of students who benefited from the fee reimbursement scheme still remember him. As also those who received treatment under Rajiv Aarogyasri scheme. Therefore, YSR may be the best bet for the election this time, a party worker said. It is to be seen whether Jagan will return to power with his self-image or that of his father.