The Congress which had been reduced to a rump in Andhra Pradesh after the division of the state in 2014 and the exit of Jagan Reddy from the party in 2011 is now set to mark its presence in the state significantly once again.
Last week, in a surprise move, Congress inducted Jagan’s sister Y.S. Sharmila as its party chief in Andhra Pradesh, setting her up as a rival to her brother Jagan, who is the chief minister of the state. Sharmila’s relations with her brother – that seemed normal till a year and a half ago – worsened over a long period and she left the YSR Congress party of her brother.
She moved over to Hyderabad and began operating in Telangana in an independent capacity. There was talk that she would join the Congress party in Telangana but with local Congress workers not very enthusiastic, Sharmila has now been moved over to Andhra Pradesh, which will go to polls early next year.
Meanwhile, the creation of Telangana that happened nearly ten years ago though not forgotten by folks in Andhra Pradesh today has little impact. This would mean that that animosity against the Congress party is all but gone in the state.
“The party now requires a new leader to take it forward. Whether Sharmila can galvanise the outfit is something that has to be watched,” says a senior Congress leader who hopes that the new leader would be successful. The leader feels that since the party has been more or less reduced to zero it will be easier for Sharmila to make a mark.
Being Jagan’s sister, she is uniquely placed to encroach on some of his support base, Congress workers say.
Sharmila gave indications of her plans by talking of minorities and the situation in Manipur. This is seen as a direct attack on her brother, Jagan. Both Jagan (and Sharmila) are Christians and there is an undercurrent in Andhra Pradesh that Christians are not getting the right treatment in the state in spite of Jagan.
Also read: Andhra Pradesh Is a Political Pesarattu in the Making
This is disputed by Jagan acolytes. In Manipur too, Christians have been among people who are at the receiving end of the recent violence. Jagan is seen to be on the side of the Bharatiya Janata Party which is perceived as a party representing Hindus. Jagan, however, has no other alternative. He left the Congress party of which he was a part and then landed up in jail for cases filed against him. Out of jail, the cases filed against him still persist.
The cases filed by CBI are for amassing disproportionate assets through misusing powers when his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The CBI controlled by the Union government is under the BJP.
As the battle for the South heats up, the BJP which has very little presence in Andhra Pradesh wants to use Jagan’s party. The BJP earlier – since the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee – was aligned with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) controlled by Chandrababu Naidu. But at the end of 2018, Naidu suddenly broke his partnership with the BJP leaving the saffron party high and dry. Many perceive that this was because Naidu had prime ministerial dreams that he wanted to achieve without BJP’s help. Naidu, however, assigned other reasons for breaking up the alliance with the BJP, contending that a special status promised for Andhra Pradesh was no longer forthcoming. The special status would mean more funds for the state. Whatever be the case in the changed circumstances, BJP was forced to tie up with Jagan’s outfit.
In the meantime, Jagan, aware of the electoral battle that he will be pitted in against Chandrababu Naidu (and now his sister Sharmila) is delivering many subsidies to the electorate. His government does not have the means to deliver all of them to the public due to lack on funds. But he is depending on largesse from the Union government to deliver the goods. Naidu who was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019 is depending on his work in his term as also caste equations to bring him back to power. Some sections of the population favour Naidu strongly.