The dismal performance of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy - led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections has come as a surprise for many including, probably, for Reddy himself.
While no one expected a cakewalk for Reddy who hoped to return to power, the inability of YSRCP to win a bare minimum of 18 seats to be qualified to the status of the Opposition party raised many an eyebrow.
What made Reddy, who led his party to a landslide in 2019 with 151 of the 175 seats, to lose one of the most important elections needed for survival?
The results also put a question mark on the efficacy of the welfare state model brought in by Reddy and his belief on the ability of the mega welfare schemes, Navaratnas, to give him a second term.
The reasons are many, according to insiders of YSRCP as well as the voters. Jagan Reddy banked on the ‘positive vote’ from the women and elderly on account of his welfare schemes, which proved to be a fallacy.
What happened to the ₹4.49-lakh crore disbursed to people since 2019 through Direct Benefit Transfer and door-to-door disbursals? Why did the poor, women and elderly did not vote for YSRCP?
Identifying reasons
While these are the questions which were also posed by Jagan Reddy in his reaction to the humiliating defeat, the insiders in his party are now busy in identifying the causes for the debacle.
“What was given in the form of DBT is lesser than what was taken by the government in the form of various other increases such as power tariff,’‘ said M Renuka, a farm worker from Kankipadu near here.
The specific issues of Andhra Pradesh which is yet to recover from the problems of the State bifurcation in 2014 including the lack of a capital and poor physical infrastructure and absence of new industrial investment must have played a role in the public rejection of Jagan Reddy’s government.
The leader who had endeared himself with his padayatra across the State before 2019 and dislodged the then ruling TDP from power, distanced himself from the public after winning the mandate and was rarely mingled with people except in the poll campaign for the last four months.
The guaranteed pension scheme introduced by Reddy did not go well with over 4 lakh government employees who demanded the rollout of the old pension scheme.
Attack on Opposition
Reddy’s treatment of the Opposition, including the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu, and targeting of other senior leaders of TDP and Jana Sena appears to have backfired and resulted in sympathy for the Opposition.
“The behaviour and corruption among some of our own ministers and MLAs also earned the wrath of the voters,’‘ said a senior YSRCP leader who lost elections adding that inability to control MLAs and a vindictive attitude of Jagan Reddy damaged the image of the party.
The Opposition front was apparently successful in highlighting the alleged corruption in the new land titling act, liquor and sand business which could not be effectively countered by the ruling YSRCP.
Interestingly, the manifesto of NDA Alliance also promised many welfare schemes outnumbering those of YSRCP including free travel to women in RTC buses which were ignored by YSRCP.