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YSR Congress swept the by-polls to 18 assembly constituencies and one Parliamentary seat, elections to which were held on June 12 in Andhra Pradesh.
The party won 15 seats, while the Congress bagged two and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won the Parkal seat in Warangal by a thin margin.
Mr Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy of the YSR Congress retained the Nellore Lok Sabha seat defeating industrialist and former Union Minister, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy by more than two lakh votes . The Telugu Desam came a distant third.
The bye-elections were necessitated following the disqualification of 17 Congress legislators, who quit the party to join the YSR Congress led by Mr Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, MP from Kadapa and son of former Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Big Question
The big question facing state politics now, is will the Congress see a good number of its legislators deserting it for the YSR Congress and creating a political crisis? Or, will the Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Government manage to stem the likely desertions and survive?
Though the Congress won the Ramachandrapuram seat in East Godavari and Narsapuram in West Godavari district, its overall performance in the by-polls — despite launching an all-out attack on Jagan and his alleged corruption — did not seem to have cut much ice with the electorate, as it ended up a poor third in most constituencies.
Incidentally, Jagan was arrested on May 27, two weeks before the end of the campaigning for the elections. His judicial remand was also coincidentally until June 11, just a day before the polling.
The voters seem to have reposed their confidence in the popular, pro-poor schemes of the late Dr YSR (Arogyasri, free education, minimum employment, housing etc). The arrest of Jagan and also the campaign led by his mother Ms Y. Vijayamma (sitting MLA) and Jagan's sister, Ms Y.S. Sharmila also whipped up a sympathy wave for the YSR Congress candidates.
The Praja Rajyam Party led by megastar Chiranjeevi, which helped the Congress by merging its party with 17 MLAs at the time that Jagan's loyalists quit the party, also had a setback as the Congress lost the Tirupati seat, vacated by Mr Chiranjeevi, who became a Rajya Sabha member.
soma@thehindu.co.in
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