ysr congress party

Election Commission Seeks Report On Alleged Attack On Jaganmohan Reddy

The attack has raised several doubts in the minds of the public as it took place when there was a blackout caused by power shutdown.

Hyderabad: In the aftermath of the alleged stone throwing incident in which Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy sustained an injury just above his left eyebrow, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken a serious view of the matter and sought a report on Saturday, April 13.

The ECI has directed Mukesh Kumar Meena, Andhra Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) to send a detailed report on the incident, and the persons responsible for the attack. Further, Meena has asked Vijayawada police commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata to inquire and submit the details. Tata has assured that a preliminary report will be prepared by Sunday.

The alleged incident took place when an unidentified person threw a stone during the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress party’s (YSR Congress party’s) election campaign in Vijayawada on Saturday night.

Jagan was standing on the rooftop of his bus and greeting milling crowds around the vehicle with his trademark folded hands raised upwards when a stone hit him from a building nearby. Though he took evasive action, the object hit him on the forehead, tearing the skin in ‘Y’ shape even as he held on to his eye tightly writhing in pain. He was immediately escorted inside the bus by security personnel.

The attack took place when the bus was moving at a snail’s pace as the crowd was bursting at its seams in Singhnagar area of Vijayawada (Central) Assembly constituency at 8.10 pm. Suddenly, what appeared to be a stone was hurled at Jagan from a second floor window of an adjacent private school. The stone also landed on V. Srinivas Rao, YSR Congress candidate of the constituency, after hitting Jagan.

Director General of Police K.V. Rajendranath Reddy told this reporter that there were no leads so far in the investigation though some special teams were screening images of CCTV network in the area. He expressed hope of arresting the culprit shortly.

The incident triggered political waves as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Jagan a speedy recovery. Similarly, Tamil Nadu chief minister M. K. Stalin said political differences should never escalate to violence. “Let’s uphold civility and mutual respect as we engage in the democratic process,” he observed.

Jagan’s sister and Andhra Pradesh Congress committee president Y. S. Sharmila felt the incident may have been an accident but everyone must condemn if it was a deliberate attempt. “It is sad and unfortunate that chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy was attacked and injured above his left eye during the election campaign today. We think it was an accident. Otherwise, if it was done on purpose, everyone should definitely condemn it. Democracy has no place for violence. Every democrat must condemn violence. I am praying to God for Jagan’s speedy recovery,” Sharmila wrote on X.

The YSR Congress party chief’s arch rival and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu condemned the incident and demanded unbiased investigation. He also urged the ECI to punish officials responsible, if they were found to be negligent.

The YSR Congress, however, pointed fingers at the provocative speeches of Naidu during the campaign trail for the attack.

YSR Congress general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy told media persons during a press conference on Sunday that the TDP supremo had become desperate and indulged in provocative speeches as the bus yatra evoked huge response. He added that Naidu expected the popularity of yatra to diminish after crossing Rayalaseema where it was launched last month. “But, the road shows in the yatra became a super hit, more than in 2019 polls.”

To prove his point, the YSR Congress leader even played the video of a public meeting addressed by Naidu where the latter gave a call to people to attack Jagan with stones or other missiles until the “bull”, as he called the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, was defeated in elections. “Jagan will be reduced to ashes if you (public) turn eyes red in anger,” Naidu had said in the video.

Ramakrishna Reddy underlined that people who were adversely affected by the yatra or their associates were behind the attack. “They (opponents of YSR Congress Party) belonged to a school of thought that believed in violence. The group was led by Telugu Desam and comprised its allies Jana Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Naidu had resigned to his fate that he will not only get a second term as chief minister but he will be out of political reckoning permanently. The tone and tenor of Naidu’s speeches were inherent with provocation as the yatra progressed.”

The attack has raised several doubts in the minds of the public as it took place when there was a blackout caused by power shutdown. Subsequently, Vijayawada police commissioner Tata has clarified that the power was deliberately removed to avoid Jagan’s bus coming into contact with overhead wires.

Further, questions were also raised on the security arrangements as hundreds of personnel who were deployed failed to avert the attack. It was considered a serious breach as multi-level steps were followed to ensure the chief minister’s security involving the Intelligence Security Wing, Chief Minister’s Security Group and local police, among others. Moreover, the incident took place merely two kms from the local police station.

Interestingly, doubts were also raised that what hit Jagan might not have been a stone but a pellet fired from an air gun in the hands of assailants.

Political activists across parties argued that it was a general practice to ensure there was no power cut or interruption during a chief minister’s public appearances in evenings. There were not even flood lights sourcing energy from generators to focus on public which could have averted the incident while the flood lights on the bus were directed at Jagan making him an easy target.

Jagan was given first aid in the bus and allowed to carry on the yatra after some time. When the bus reached Kesarapalli camp in Krishna district for night halt at 10.30 pm, Jagan was joined by his wife Y.S. Bharathi. Both of them went to Vijayawada government general hospital where he had two stitches on the injury with local anaesthesia. The hospital superintendent assured that the injury was not serious and that Jagan will recover in two or three days though he had a swelling over the eye.

The yatra was suspended for a day on Sunday.

Will Pawan Kalyan’s Yatra Prove Decisive in Andhra Pradesh?

While the actor-politician will undoubtedly draw crowds, it remains to be see if the Jana Sena Party can convert the support of his fans and the Kapu community into votes for the Telugu Desam Party.

Hyderabad: Jana Sena Party (JSP) supremo and popular actor Pawan Kalyan has sounded the political bugle in Andhra Pradesh for the assembly election in 2024. He is all set to begin his roadshow from East Godavari district on Wednesday, June 14. Interestingly, the first phase of the ‘Varahi Yatra’ will cover 11 key assembly segments where a potentially crucial and captive Kapu caste vote bank is concentrated. While there will undoubtedly be huge crowds, will the actor-politician be able to convert this support into actual votes this time around and transfer them to the benefit of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)?

Pawan Kalyan in the recent past has repeatedly declared that he will ensure anti-incumbency votes are not split. As part of this effort, he joined hands with the TDP and an alliance between them seems a foregone conclusion now. In fact, the surprise meeting between TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi is being seen as the fruition of Kalyan’s efforts to build a united opposition to take on chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The JSP and BJP are already in a formal alliance.

Projecting strength for a better deal?

While the JSP officially contends the yatra is meant to consolidate its base, highly placed sources within the party say it is also a show of strength to negotiate a better deal in future seat-sharing discussions. “The JSP got about 5% vote share in 2019. The crowds that will turn up during the yatra will most definitely help us punch above our weight and negotiate a better deal during seat-sharing discussions,” the source told The Wire.

The TDP thinks otherwise. “We don’t think exerting pressure on us is the agenda of the yatra. Pawan Kalyan has always been clear from the beginning about a YSRCP-mukt Andhra Pradesh. In fact, he was quite accommodating during the informal alliance talks. Moreover, he has said publicly that the JSP’s strength is limited and cautioned his fans and supporters to understand the ground reality and make practical demands,” TDP spokesperson K. Pattabi told The Wire.

The JSP contested 137 of 175 assembly segments in 2019. It retained its deposits in only 16, winning just one seat. Interestingly, the 11 segments to be covered in the first phase of the yatra are from these 16 segments. This suggests a conservative approach, attempting to consolidate the party’s strengths before venturing into other districts. Pattabi thinks this is a good decision. “Even the late YSR [Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy] started began his padayatra in 2003-4 from his stronghold of Idupulapaya,” he told The Wire.

Pawan Kalyan and N. Chandrababu Naidu on January 8, 2023. Photo: Video screengrab

Will the Kapu vote consolidate behind JSP and help TDP?

Pattabi is also confident that the Kapu community, to which Kalyan belongs, will consolidate behind the JSP. Therefore, the TDP will also benefit from a vote transfer. “Jagan Mohan Reddy has always ignored certain communities like the Kammas [the TDP’s core voter base]. He doesn’t even bother to appeal to them. He is doing the same with the Kapu community. Cabinet minister Kodali Nani even said recently that they don’t care for Kapu votes,” he told The Wire.

According to JSP leader Panchakarla Sandeep, both the delta districts of East and West Godavari are strongholds of the party. “Pawan Kalyan has many fans in this belt. Moreover, there is substantial support from Kapus here. But we also have support among the backward communities like Setti Balija and Agnikula Kshatriya (fishermen). Even forward castes like the Kshatriyas support us,” he told The Wire.

Raju Raviteja, a former JSP leader who co-authored the book Ism with Pawan Kalyan detailing the party’s political ideology, believes otherwise. “Kalyan’s attempts to garner Kapu votes against Jagan is a non-starter. At the ground level, Kammas and Kapus are political rivals. It will be a challenge for him to convince them to work together. Moreover, the Kapus feel Pawan Kalyan will sell their interests to the TDP,” he told The Wire.

YSRCP national media advisor Devulapalli Amar agrees with Raviteja. He asked why the Kapus will carry Naidu’s palanquin. “First, Kapus do not vote as a monolith. Second, they will not agree to a combination which will make Naidu the CM, which means they will not work wholeheartedly on the ground for some other leader’s victory. Finally, they know Naidu’s history of political betrayals and the treatment he meted out to the Kapu community after he became the CM in 2014. So, they will be very cautious of him,” he told The Wire.

When asked if the JSP is aware of these challenges, Raju Raviteja said that Kalyan is “too close” to him to “have an objective assessment of the situation”, since his style of leadership is “too impulsive”.

Also Read: Why a Meeting Between Amit Shah and Chandrababu Naidu Says a Lot About BJP’s Fears

What about the fans?

Raju Ravitej believes Pawan Kalyan’s fans are his biggest liability. “His fans are unruly and violent. While Kalyan goes around trying to convince people to vote for him, the behaviour of his fans is convincing people to vote against him. He takes one step forward while his fans push him two steps backwards,” he said.

He added: “Of course, he can rein in his fans to some extent. But he doesn’t want to do that because he wants them to chant his name and use this support to consolidate his position in his own party and overcome elements that rebel against him. Kalyan takes control through organised chaos and the tragedy is that this beats his own organisation hollow, giving him a pyrrhic victory of sorts.”

This raises an important question about Kalyan’s capability to have control over his MLAs if he does manage to win a few seats. Will he be able to stop them from jumping ship to the TDP or YSRCP? In fact, the party’s lone MLA in the current assembly, Rapaka Varaprasad, also distanced himself from the party and is now closely associated with the ruling YSRCP.

Why does the Kapu vote matter?

It matters for three reasons. One, it is estimated that the Kapus constitute about 15-17% of the state’s population. Two, they are desperate for political power and feel a sense of indignation that they have been deliberately kept out of power by the Kammas and Reddys. Three, they are concentrated in geographical pockets with an especially high concentration in East and West Godavari.

The third reason is crucial. A high concentration of vote share in a particular geography tends to convert into a disproportionately high number of seats. This is usually explained by psephologists using the Cube Rule. It refers to a principle in political science that applies to electoral systems using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) method.

More specifically, the ratio of seats won by a political party to the total number of seats is approximately proportional to the cube of the ratio of the number of votes won by the party to the total number of votes.

For instance, this is evident in Karnataka, where the BJP’s vote share has consistently been less than the Congress’s. Yet, the saffron party has sometimes managed to win more seats – simply because its vote base, like the Lingayat community for example, is concentrated in certain large pockets of the state. But the Congress vote bases are spread thinly across the state.

With the TDP and the Kapu community desperate for power, Pawan Kalyan and his ‘Varahi Yatra’ might prove to be decisive in Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh: Pawan Kalyan Remains Elusive Even as TDP Anxious to Finalise Alliance

Chandrababu Naidu’s party is wary of contesting alone against YSR Congress Party. In case the TDP and JSP work out a deal, then it is to be seen if the BJP is also a partner. That will have implications for state polls as well as national elections.

Hyderabad: With state and Lok Sabha elections just about a year away in Andhra Pradesh, the main opposition, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is quietly trying to come to an understanding with the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) in the hope of avoiding another heavy defeat like last time around.

Knowing that he holds the key to the TDP coming back to power, Kalyan is playing hardball – as so far, the TDP and JSP have not come to any understanding for an alliance. As of now, the actor-turned-politician Kalyan reportedly met former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu more than once to discuss terms for an alliance, but so far nothing has been announced.

TDP insiders confirmed that aside from one official meeting between their party head and Kalyan, another also transpired. “The issue is mostly about seat sharing, over which discussions are ongoing. It is too early now to announce anything, but allying with JSP will definitely help us in districts like Ongole, Guntur, East and West Godavari,” said a TDP leader, not wanting to be quoted.

The Wire has learnt that the JSP asked for about 60 seats in the state polls. However, both sides did not comment officially when asked. While the TDP is the bigger player, it knows that victory in 2024 will be elusive if the two parties contest individually.

“Our surveys indicate that we can win about 120 seats easily with the alliance. Jana Sena can sweep both East and West Godavari districts due to support from the Kapu community,” said the TDP leader. Kalyan hails from the numerically powerful Kapu community – believed to be a little over 20% of AP’s population – and hence holds the key to the TDP’s fortunes next year.

TDP’s rout in 2019

The TDP, led by former AP chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, suffered one of its worst defeats in the 2019 state and Parliamentary polls after it decided to contest on its own. It managed to win just 23 assembly constituencies (out of 175) and three Lok Sabha seats (out of 25).

Though the JSP did not win anything, it dented the TDP’s vote base, influencing the results in at least 40 assembly seats. The JSP managed to get a vote share of 5.5%. The Congress and BJP – both contesting on their own – could muster just around 1% of the vote share each in the state polls.

The ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which is sitting cosy currently, won 151 seats in the state legislature and 22 in the Lok Sabha. It is being helped by the Prashant Kishor-led Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). When contacted, a YSRCP functionary, who did not want to be quoted, said his party is expecting to win around 120 seats even if the TDP and JSP come together.

The TDP and JSP fell apart in 2018. Though the TDP broke off its alliance with the BJP because the party backed down from the promise of granting Special Category status to the state, Pawan Kalyan shocked Naidu in 2018 by censuring the latter in public. This prompted the TDP to call off its alliance with the JSP, which proved to be a fatal mistake in the 2019 elections.

N. Chandrababu Naidu. Photo: Facebook/tdp.ncbn.official

Playing hardball

Pawan Kalyan, on his part, is keeping his cards close to his chest. While he has publicly mentioned that he may enter into an alliance for the next polls, he has not formally said he will go with the TDP. However, all indications from JSP and TDP are that some sort of deal is being cobbled up informally.

At a public meeting to commemorate 10 years since JSP’s formation in Machlipatnam, Kalyan told his cadre that no “secret” pact was made with the TDP or Naidu. He however went on to criticise the BJP – his current alliance partner. In case Naidu and Kalyan work out a deal, then it is to be seen if the BJP will also be a partner. That will have implications for state polls and national elections.

When contacted, JSP spokesperson B. Satya however said that the TDP needs an alliance more than his party. “They want an alliance because without it they will get wiped out. It is a necessity for them, and we won’t lose anything [even if contesting alone]. We did not contest in 2014. If the TDP asks us to join and makes Pawan Kalyan the CM candidate, then that is fine,” he remarked.

TDP leaders however scoffed at the idea and said there is no scenario where they Kalyan would be the CM face of the alliance. “When Pawan Kalyan said votes should not split earlier, he meant it should be unitedly given to him,” JSP’s Satya added.

Professor E. Venkatesu, an analyst and a faculty member from the University of Hyderabad’s political science department, said that as things stand currently, there is no possibility for the TDP to win on its own. But he was also skeptical of the party’s ability to win in an alliance.

“If the TDP and JSP come together, they will increase their vote share but it won’t be enough to win. The ruling YSRCP’s welfare schemes and strong consolidation of power in AP are formidable. Even if JSP and BJP contest together, for a triangular contest, there is no scope. Naidu’s son Lokesh has undertaken a padayatra, but it has no clear agenda as well,” professor Venkatesh pointed out.

He added that the ruling YSRCP’s Village Secretariat system (to decentralise governance on the ground level) established by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy after he came to power has helped the ruling party develop a strong network. “On the government front, this has been helping them get information as well,” professor Venkatesu pointed out.

EC Asks YSR Congress To Publicly Deny Reports That Jagan Was Made Its ‘Lifetime’ President

“The Commission categorically rejects any attempt or even a hint of any organisational post being of permanent nature, being inherently anti-democracy,” it said in a letter to the party.

New Delhi: Against the backdrop of media reports that Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been appointed the permanent president of the YSR Congress Party, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday directed the party to make a “clear and categorical public announcement” contradicting the reports as the matter has the potential to create “confusion” in other political organisations.

The EC order came after the YSR Congress Party initially informed the poll panel about the “unanimous” election of Jagan Mohan Reddy as president of the party on July 8 and 9 this year, but did not categorically admit or deny the specific allegation forwarded by the EC regarding him being made permanent president for life.

The EC had sought a reply from the parry following media reports.

The YSR Congress Party later confirmed to the EC that the issue was reported in the media and that the party has launched an internal enquiry in this regard. It had also told EC that “necessary action” on the same will be taken by the party on finding the facts.

But the commission has now directed the party to make a “clear and categorical announcement publicly”, contradicting media reports on the appointment of Jagan as the permanent president. This will put the possibility of such confusion at rest, the EC said.

“The Commission categorically rejects any attempt or even a hint of any organisational post being of permanent nature, being inherently anti-democracy. Any action which denies the periodicity of elections is in complete violation of the extant instructions of the Commission,” the order said.

The EC said if not categorically contradicted, “it has the potential to create confusion in other political formations of such a move being condoned by the Election Commission of India and in turn can assume contagious proportions.”

(With PTI inputs)

AP: Jagan Mohan Reddy Shows He Is Ready to Emerge From His Father’s Shadow

Not only did Jagan’s mother exit the YSR Congress party, but he was elected ‘lifetime president’ of AP’s ruling party. This marks a significant departure.

Vijayawada: Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, popularly known as Vijayamma, resigning as the honorary president of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) has signalled the attempts of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to emerge from the shadow of his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) and emerge as a leader unto himself.

The development, which took place on the first day of the YSRCP’s plenary on Friday, also indicated that the party is confident that it can come back to power in Andhra Pradesh with Jagan’s brand image as the driving force. During the plenary, he was elected ‘lifetime president’ of the party.

Vijayamma’s exit has ensured that Jagan is the only claimant to YSR’s legacy in the party. After all, she was the party’s honorary president since its foundation more than a decade ago. Jagan’s sister Sharmila Reddy, who played a crucial role in the party’s early years, was sidelined and floated her own party, YSR Telangana Party, last year.

After YSR’s tragic demise in a chopper crash in 2009, Jagan nursed the ambition of becoming the chief minister. But the Congress high command did not agree, and launched the YSRCP in March 2011. He was jailed in a disproportionate assets case.

During this period. Sharmila, Vijayamma and Y.V. Subba Reddy (Vijayamma’s brother-in-law) took on the mantle of leading the party.

Sharmila even launched a marathon 3000 km padayatra and campaigned for the party.

After Jagan was released on bail, he revamped the party organisation to reduce the influence of Sharmila’s group. Subba Reddy, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014, was denied a ticked in 2019. Subsequently, Jagan gave more responsibilities to Rajya Sabha member V. Vijasai Reddy and Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.

Y.S. Sharmila Reddy launches the YSR Telangana Party in Hyderabad, July 8, 2021. Photo: PTI

Though Vijayamma’s resignation has been presented as voluntary, Jagan is also accused by some of sidelining his mother.

Seeing no scope for her to grow in the YSRCP, Sharmila floated a party to try and capitalise on her father’s legacy in Telangana – apparently against the wishes of her brother. Vijayamma, who was reduced to a figurehead in the YSRCP, nurtured her daughter’s political ambitions. She also justified her resignation from the YSRCP by saying that her daughter needs her more.

G. Valliswar, who served as YSR’s chief public relations officer during the leader’s stint as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, said that Sharmila could have emerged as a parallel power centre in the YSRCP because of her dynamism and leadership abilities. “That is the reason why Jagan deftly kept his sister out,” he told The Wire. Whether it is the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the YSRCP or any other regional party, the emergence of parallel power centres is a threat to the leader at the helm, Valliswar said.

Jagan now supreme in YSRCP

During the party plenary, the YSR Congress Parliamentary Party leader V. Vijayasai Reddy piloted a proposal to anoint Jagan as lifetime president. It was duly ratified. With this, Jagan becomes the supreme leader of the party and will not need to face internal elections.

This is a significant depature from the party’s previous path, when Jagan, his mother and sister remained the party’s star campaigners. And they banked on YSR’s legacy, promising to enact popular policy measures like waiving agricultural loans, free education and subsidising healthcare. The images of Rajasekhara Reddy featured prominently in the party’s campaign material in the 2014 assembly and general elections.

But all such expectations went awry and even Vijayamma failed to win the Lok Sabha election from Visakhapatnam.

The party’s reworked its strategy. In the run-up to the 2019 elections, Jagan’s leadership also found its place alongside the legacy of YSR. ‘Rajanna Rajyam’ or YSR’s rule was the party’s buzzword in 2014, which was replaced by ‘Kavali Jagan, Ravali Jagan‘, meaning ‘We want Jagan, Jagan should come to power’.

Prashant Kishor’s prescription

The YSRCP’s fight in the 2019 election also capitalised on the anti-incumbency sentiment against the N. Chandrababu Naidu government. The people of the state were hugely disappointed by Naidu’s failure to realise the promises that were made when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated. The TDP, which was a coalition partner of the NDA, also failed in getting special category status for the residual state, which Jagan promised he would oversee.

Jagan, a Christian, was also projected as culturally a Hindu as prescribed by the poll consultant Prashant Kishor, said Raka Sudhakar, an analyst. The party’s failure in the 2014 election was attributed by Kishor’s team to Vijayamma appearing with a Bible in hand in political campaigns, it is said. As a result, she was asked to stay away from electioneering in 2019. Sharmila was also sidelined from party campaigns.

After the YSRCP swept the elections in 2019, YSR’s image took the backseat in publicity material, making way for Jagan. It was Kishor’s suggestion to give the party a makeover, building Jagan as the party’s brand instead of YSR, Raka observed.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with his mother Y.S. Vijayalakshmi during a function in Amravati, Friday, July 8, 2022. Photo: PTI

Setting the tone for the next polls

On the last day of the plenary, there was further evidence of this makeover ahead of the 2024 elections. Reddy began his address by presenting himself as your “Jagan anna (elder brother), Jagan tammudu (younger brother) and Jagan koduku (son)” in an attempt to reach out to people of all ages – a departure from his earlier preference to refer to himself only as Jagan anna.

The tone and tenor of the plenary suggest that the YSRCP is likely to fight the next election on three issues: showcasing the performance of the Jagan government in the last five years, presenting him as pro-poor and projecting his rival Naidu as anti-poor and one who promotes corporate companies.

Jagan in his address said his government gave a boost to government schools, where the children from poor families study through the Nadu-Nedu programme. Chandrababu Naidu, during his tenure, patronised the educational institutes of corporate giants like Narayana and Chaitanya, he claimed.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister also trumpeted his other schemes for marginalised and disadvantaged communities. students studying in government schools, Reddy said his government has also introduced nine schemes – dubbed Navaratnalu – which include financial assitance to farmers, building homes, education in English medium and financial assitance for education.

Explained: Why Jagan Has Created 13 New Districts in Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said that the new districts would make it easier for officials to deliver government schemes, but there are other reasons too.

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday formally notified the formation of 13 new districts in the state, taking the total number to 26. The government initiated the process to carve out the new districts in January this year, with the cabinet approving the proposal on March 30.

What are the new districts called?

The new districts are Manyam, carved out of Vizianagaram; Anakapalli and Alluri Sitarama Raju carved out of Visakhapatnam; Kakinada and Konaseema carved out of East Godavari; Eluru carved out of West Godavari; Palnadu and Bapatla carved out of Guntur; Nandyal carved out of Kurnool; Sri Satya Sai carved out of Anantapur; Sri Balaji carved out of Chittoor; Annamaya carved out of Kadapa; and NT Rama Rao carved out of the Krishna district.

The government said it had received over 17,500 representations, suggestions and objections from across the state on the creation of the new districts and revenue divisions, and additions and deletions of the areas in the new districts.

A government ad notifying the formation of 13 new districts. Photo: By arrangement

Why have the new districts been created?

In a statement on Monday, Jagan said that the new districts would make it easier for officials to deliver government schemes. He said, “People have accepted and appreciated the decentralised form of government as the schemes are directly delivered to their doorstep, and that the same is being extended to the districts now”.

“We have seen the development through decentralised administration in the form of village and ward secretariats. We are now decentralising at the district level as well. From now on, AP is a state with 26 districts. We have at least one parliamentary constituency per district,” Reddy said.

During the poll campaign for the 2019 assembly elections, Jagan had promised that his party would make every Lok Sabha constituency a district if voted to power. While the state has 25 Lok Sabha seats, the Araku constituency will be split between two districts, one of which was created to include majority tribal areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.

Each district will now have six to eight assembly segments, except in the Konaseema district.

Why now?

Though Jagan had made the promise to establish new districts during the 2019 election campaign, the timing of the move is an attempt to curb anti-incumbency sentiments. The YSR Congress party is more than midway through its term and some of its policies – like the decision to establish three capitals instead of one – have proven unpopular. The chief minister is reported to have admitted privately that the party may have to drop nearly half of its MLAs in the next assembly election, which will happen concurrently with the 2024 general elections.

Jagan’s cabinet is also set for a major overhaul, another move seen as a way to combat anti-incumbency. The outgoing ministers would be appointed as coordinators in the districts and the party hopes that their popularity will also boost the party’s chances.

(With PTI inputs)

AP Education Budget: Government Needs To Walk the Talk on Promises

Though the Jagan government introduced many welfare schemes, the allocation to the education sector sees yet another decrease in percentage terms.

Tirupati: The YSR Congress Party government in Andhra Pradesh recently presented its budget for 2021-22, allocating lesser than last year for education in percentage terms. Allocations to education in the state have been falling since 2015-16 as a percentage of the budget. This does not augur well for Andhra Pradesh, which has a literacy (66.4%) lower than that of Bihar (70.9 percent) as per the National Sample Survey 2017-18.

The presence of a good number of Telugu techies in the IT industry, many of whom are from the state, tends to cloud this harsh reality. The 2011 census pegs the state at the 31st rank in literacy among states and Union Territories. The state also falls short of its southern peers, all of which barring Karnataka allocate 15% of their budget for education. The national average of spending on education by all 29 states in the country is 15.9%.

The closing down of schools in the state as part of a rationalisation process had led to a mushrooming of private schools, even in rural areas, over the years. This resulted in making education a costly affair in Andhra Pradesh. The trend was more pronounced in urban areas under the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government. The N. Chandrababu Naidu government had the owner of a noted corporate school and college chain, P. Narayana, as its municipal administration minister.

The YSR Congress’s promise to continue fee reimbursement for education was believed to be among the reasons which helped Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy garner 151 seats in the 175-member assembly. The Andhra Pradesh government has since announced welfare schemes like the Amma Vodi, Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena and Jagannna Vidya Kanuka.

Spending of education budget under various heads:

Programme	Allocation (in Rs crores for financial year 2021-22)
Nadu-Nedu	3,500
Jagananna Gorumudda	1,200
Jagannanna Vidya Kanuka	750
Higher education	1,973

Allocation for education in AP budget:

Year	Allocation for education (Rs in crores)	Percentage of budget	Total budget of state (in crores)
2015-16	13,726	16.44	1,13,049
2016-17	16,543	15	1,35,069
2017-18	18,159	14	1,56,999
2018-19	22,803	13	1,91,064
2019-20	32,618	14.31	2,27,975
2020-21	25,201.35	11.21	2,24,789
2021-22	24,624.22	10.7	2,29,779

The Kothari Commission had recommended that 30% of state budgets and 10% of the Central government’s budget should be allocated for education. Delhi has allocated 25.2% of its budget for education, while Kerala has allocated more than the national average over the years.

The Amma Vodi scheme, which involves depositing Rs 15,000 into the bank accounts of mothers of school and intermediate students (Class XI and XI), attracted more students to government institutions due to job losses and financial troubles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Critics had expressed anxiety that the scheme would lead to a fall in the number of students in government schools.

This flagship programme was allocated Rs 6,107.36 crore, which observers say will fall short of the needs as nearly six lakh students joined government schools, deserting private schools.

The schools which closed after the national lockdown in March, 2020 were opened only in November 2020. By then, private schools which could not pay salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff had shut shop. The uncertainty over their future led to students seeking admission in government schools and a subsequent shortage in textbooks. Officials said that as a result, a buffer stock of 5% of the text books printed in 2019-20 was maintained.

The fact that many small private schools had to shut shop is vouched for by N. Viswanatha Reddy, joint secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Private Schools Management Association (APPSMA). He said, “Nearly 10-30% of students from small private schools in urban areas and up to 50% in rural areas have shifted to government schools. If the pandemic continues, by June-July, 50% of these schools will close.” Middle class families would be at a loss if such schools close, as government schools are still unable to live up to the expectations of parents, he adds.

The government on its part facilitated the process of admissions into government schools by not insisting on a transfer certificate when they opened in November, 2020. The private school managements which are mandated to provide salaries and other emoluments to teachers in their institutions through out the year as per GO MS No. 1 passed in 1994 failed to do so. The governments failure to implement provisions of this order left these teachers in the lurch.

Even in normal circumstances, private teachers lose jobs at the whims and fancies of the management, says D. Ambedkar, president of the Private Teachers and Lecturers Union in AP. “Managements flout rules and do not enrol our names in the UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) and don’t pay our provident fund or employees’ state insurance, and other benefits by enrolling less than 20 members in the system. Our problems found mention in the YSRCP manifesto and hence we even campaigned for it. But the party left us in the lurch during the pandemic,” he said.

Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Photo: PTI

Government schools continue to be besieged by problems

Sheikh Sabjee, the MLC from the teacher’s constituency of East and West Godavari districts, says that only 1/3rd of schools have been improved under the Naadu-Nedu programme. “It involves provision of amenities and infrastructure in the schools. Some schools face a shortage of classrooms, which is not addressed by the scheme. Many schools don’t have non-teaching staff like attenders and clerical work is being done by teachers,” he says.

Of the 674 mandals in the state, nearly 500 mandal education officer (MEO) posts are vacant. Headmasters are forced to doubling up as MEOs also. Of the 64 deputy education officer posts, 59 remain unfilled. Teachers’ unions peg the number of vacancies for teachers in the schools at 25,000.

Reliance on technology to monitor teachers in place of MEOs has led to wastage of time, says P. Chenga Reddy, a teacher at Vankireddygari Palli of Rompicherla mandal in Chittoor district. The teachers spend time marking their own and students attendance online using the Internet on their mobiles. Lack of proper connectivity adds to problems, he adds.

Adoption of CBSE syllabus in schools

With more students showing an interest in attempting all-India entrances to higher educational institutes over the years, schools which followed the CSBSE syllabus became more popular across the state. The state government has decided to adopt the CBSE syllabus from Class I to Class VII from the next academic year. The government plans to move Classes VIII to X to the CBSE syllabus by 2024.

The teachers’ unions say this decision has been taken without any discussion with the stakeholders, especially teachers.

P. Babu Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh United Teachers Federation, says, “Education is a state subject and syllabus prepared by local experts would educate students about noted Telugu writers like Gurajada and Sri Sri. But that can’t be guaranteed if the syllabus is prepared by the Centre. Chances of a child studying about social reformers like Eswara Chandra Vidyasagar would be higher than our own Kandukuri Veereshalingam.” He also expressed concerns about the BJP led government changing textbooks to suit its agenda.

The move to adopt the CBSE syllabus is also being seen as a step to circumvent legal wrangles around Jagan’s plan to introduce English as the medium of education. This move was struck down by the AP high court. An appeal by the government in the Supreme Court is yet to be heard. The ruling and opposition parties had a high decibel debate on English as the medium of instruction even as they fail to allocate sufficient resources for education as a whole.

College education

The GO. 77 issued by the Andhra Prades government downsized the fee reimbursement (rechristened as Jagananna Vidya Deevena) and Jaganna Vasathi Deevena to graduation courses only. It takes those studying post graduation courses like MSc, MA, MPharmacy, self-finance courses and even integrated degree courses like the five year LLB in private institutions out of the purview of these schemes.

Reports in regional media in 2019 had pegged the number of vacancies across the universities in the state at 62%. Over the past two years, it is safe to assume that they would have increased. A test conducted to fill these vacancies through the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission by the previous TDP government was embroiled in court cases and was cancelled after the YSRCP came to power. The state government has promised to fill them.

Reacting to the budget proposals, V. Balasubramanium, an MLC who represents the teachers constituency from Prakasam, Nellore and Chittoor districts, said, “The budget has failed the teachers also as there is no talk of a pay revision commission and the promise to repeal the contributory pension scheme has not been kept even after two years. Budget doesn’t have a long term vision and allocations have been made only to schemes. In line with this, while the entire higher education sector got Rs 1,973 crore, the Vidya Deevena (providing hostel facility for students) received Rs 2,223.15 crore.”

In fact, allocations to the higher education sector have fallen from Rs 2,276.97 crore last year to Rs 1,973.16 crore, a drop of Rs 303.81 crore. GO 57 issued by the government on October 30, 2020, reducing the fee by 30% in private and unaided schools and colleges. It did not succeed as the managements knocked on the doors of the high court which stayed the order. “Three committees formed for this purpose failed to rein in fees, even as private schools and colleges fleeced the parents,” says K. Prasanna Kumar, president of SFI, AP.

AP: To Pre-Empt BJP’s Growth, TDP Looks to Secure 20% ‘Hindu Vote Share’

After being dealt its worst electoral defeat in 2019, the party is considering walking the path of polarisation to ensure that the saffron party doesn’t eat into its support base.

Hyderabad: Wary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s attempts to polarise voters and make inroads into the state, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh is contemplating walking the path of religious polarisation to carve out 20% of the Hindu vote share. The development will be interesting to watch, as Hindus in AP mostly vote on caste lines rather than religious ones.

A senior TDP leader who is close to the top brass said that attempts are being made to figure out how to secure a “20% Hindu vote share”. “There is a thinking (in the party) that we should go for Hindu votes, as (YSR Congress Party supremo and AP chief minister) Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has the support of Dalits, Reddys and a majority of Muslims anyway,” the TDP leader, who did not want to be quoted, added.

In the last state and general elections held in 2019, the TDP was dealt its worst electoral defeat. The YSR Congress Party won a staggering 151 (out of 175) assembly seats, and 23 (out of 25) Lok Sabha constituencies. The TDP, which had split from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), got only 23 assembly and two parliamentary seats. This was despite the fact that it secured nearly 40% of the vote share.

“We were as secular as possible, but now we can’t be secular anymore. That is the victory of the BJP, it has managed to polarise politics across India. We are also falling in their trap,” the TDP leader from AP stated, and added that the party has reached out to certain “Swamijis” or priests from major temples in the state. However, the efforts have not yet borne fruit.

In AP, politics has always been about Kamma vs Reddy

In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP is seen as a party run by the Kamma community (one of the dominant castes), which party supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu belongs to. The TDP’s major support bases are the Other Backward Classes (OBC), which form about 37% of the population, apart from Muslims (about 9% in AP) and the Kammas (about 7% or so).

The YSRCP, on the other hand, is a party that draws support from the Reddys (another dominant caste) Dalits, Christians, and sections of the Muslim and Scheduled Tribe communities. In the previous election, the YSRCP’s vote share was about 10% more than the TDP.

Actor-turned-politician, who heads the Jana Sena Party (JSP), was also believed to be one of the reasons behind TDP’s poor performance in 2019’s election.

Kalyan, who was in an alliance with the TDP earlier, is believed to have influence over the numerically strong (about 20%) Kapu community. The votes that the JSP got may have eaten into the TDP’s vote share in many seats in the 2019 elections, playing a part in the party’s poor show.

Kalyan has now allied with the BJP, after tying up with the left parties in the past. For this reason, his political decisions have often been criticised.

The BJP has never tasted success in the state. In fact, in the 2019 state and general elections, it managed to get only 1% of the vote share.

Also Read: To Combat Jagan, Is Chandrababu Naidu Siding With BJP Again?

Temple attacks put Jagan’s govt on back foot

The TDP mulling the possibility of polarising the polity comes at a time when the state is witnessing a series of desecrations of temples. Last month, the Lord Ram idol at the famous Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district was vandalised. Prior to that, three-four such incidents had taken place in the state, which the BJP and right-wing groups have used to target the YSRCP government. Such incidents have continued to take place even this month.

Political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy told The Wire, “What the TDP is trying to do is to occupy a space which even the BJP is trying to get into. They know that if they don’t establish themselves firmly in the general Hindu vote bank, the BJP will eat into their share. There is a possibility that Hindus in Andhra Prades may get disillusioned due to certain incidents, like the statue of Lord Ram getting desecrated days ago.”

Two more temples were attacked on January 3 at Vijaywada. In the latest incidents, the deity of Sita at the Pandit Nehru Bus Station was allegedly vandalised, while an idol of Ketu was vandalised at Sivalayam at Vuyyuru, on the outskirts of Vijayawada.

In the statements made by Naidu after these incidents, a glimpse of the party’s possible new direction is visible. Naidu called Jagan a “betrayer of Hindus”, asking why no one has been arrested for the desecration of the idols so far.

“Jagan Reddy may be a Christian. But if he thinks he can use power to convert Hindus, he is wrong. If people in power resort to religious conversions, it amounts to betrayal,” said Naidu in a statement on January 2. Opposition parties have alleged that Jagan is involved in missionary activities, often without any evidence.

Meanwhile, the YSRCP holds the TDP responsible for the incidents. YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Y. Vijaysai Reddy and Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, an advisor to the AP government, have both alleged that Naidu is behind the desecration of temples. They say that the incidents are intended to divert attention from development schemes that the government has launched.

Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Photo: Facebook/Andhra Pradesh CM

TDP sending out feelers to rejoin the NDA?

More importantly, after its 2019 debacle, the TDP – or rather Naidu to be specific – has sent out feelers to the BJP about rekindling its alliance. The TDP had walked out of the NDA in 2018 after the BJP-run Centre refused to provide special status for Andhra Pradesh (which had been promised to the state after the creation of Telangana in 2014).

The TDP leader quoted above admitted that there has not been any response from the BJP’s top brass so far. “We have been told that Y. Sujana Chaudhry (former TDP Rajya Sabha MP who defected to the BJP) has been trying hard on that front, but local leaders don’t seem to want it. I suspect that they feel that the BJP should try to grow on its own, like it is doing so in Telangana and Hyderabad,” the leader said. He added that a formal decision on a possible alliance will only be taken before the next general elections.

Andhra Pradesh: CBI Books 16 Persons for ‘Defamatory Material’ Against Judges

The development comes after the Andhra Pradesh high court asked the investigating agency to probe if there was a ‘larger conspiracy’ into abusive posts against judges and the judiciary.

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked 16 individuals for posting alleged defamatory material against judges of the Supreme Court and the Andhra Pradesh high court on social media, officials said on Monday.

The Bureau had taken over the investigation in 12 cases registered by the state CID, on the directions of the Andhra Pradesh HC. The complaints were registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the registrar general of the court, B. Rajasekhar.

According to LiveLaw, the 16 people have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 153A (promoting enmity), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form).

The complaint by the registrar claimed that “key personnel, who are occupying posts of prominence in the state of Andhra Pradesh” were intentionally targeting the judges or gave interviews, speeches or published social media posts which attributed “motives, caste and corrupt allegations to some of the Supreme Court judges and High Court judges in delivering orders/judgments”. On social media, the posts were “abusive, life threatening and intimidating”, the complaint says.

On October 12, the high court directed the CBI to probe the case and submit a report to it in a sealed cover within eight weeks, wondering whether there was a “larger conspiracy” behind the social media posts.

While handing over the probe to the central agency, the high court had expressed serious displeasure over the CID investigation in its October 12 order.

The next hearing of the case is on December 14.

The HC order came days after Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy sent a letter to Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, in which he accused the Andhra Pradesh high court and Supreme Court judge N.V. Ramana of political bias and even corruption. He claimed that the court was favouring his rival N. Chandrababu Naidu, adding that the HC was being used to “destabilise and topple” his democratically elected government.

Though the HC did not take Jagan’s name in the order, it mentioned other high-level functionaries of the YSR Congress Party, including MP Nandigam Suresh and former MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan. It had noted that the speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the deputy chief minister had also not restrained themselves from making “scathing remarks” against the judiciary. “Member of Rajya Sabha, namely, Vijayasai Reddy, has joined together in a move to make scathing remarks against the High Court.

“Their comments are perilous to democracy and amounted to an attack on the judiciary. If some ordinary person makes any comment against the government, cases are promptly registered against such persons.

“When persons in positions made comments against the judges and the courts, why have cases not been filed? Looking at things, we are left to infer that a war has been declared on the judiciary,” the bench of Justices Rakesh Kumar and J. Uma Devi had commented orally during a hearing.

“Such comments from the key personnel who are occupying posts of prominence, authoritative and constitutional in nature, targeting the judges, had severely affected the reputation of the judiciary as an independent institution. Thus, it appears that a concerted effort has been made to malign the institution, having a larger conspiracy,” the court had noted.

Also Read: Andhra CM Jagan Declares War on Justice Ramana, Next-in-Line to be Chief Justice of India

The CBI office in Visakhapatnam registered the case under various sections, including 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

Pleas have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against Jagan for levelling ‘unsubstantiated’ allegations against Justice Ramana and the Andhra Pradesh HC. While the hearing was scheduled to begin on Monday, it was deferred after Justice U.U. Lalit recused himself.

Andhra Pradesh: Spate of Attacks Undermine Jagan’s Promise of Social Justice

While the chief minister has claimed to head a government for the minorities and the marginalised, multiple party members have been accused of involvement in attacks on members of these communities.

Vijayawada: The woeful tale of Shaik Hazeera, an anganwadi worker at Raychoti in Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s native Kadapa district, seemingly presents the other side of his claims to head a government for the minorities.

Hazeera, a staunch supporter of Jagan’s party, had campaigned for the local MLA candidate the assembly elections of 2019. In September, a case was registered against her under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation by the local police. The case was registered soon after she circulated a video in her WhatsApp groups narrating the nightmares she was subjected to by a group of leaders from the YSR Congress Party.

The anganwadi centre where Hazeera works was set on fire a few days ago. Subsequently, her house was raided and her family members were manhandled by unknown persons. Talking to The Wire, Hazeera sees a link between the witness statement she gave to the police about a group of people attacking a youth with lethal weapons near the anganwadi centre, the arson and the raid on her house.

She suspects that the police registered the ‘false case’ against her under pressure from the agriculture market yard chairman, who she says is a close supporter of the local MLA. “At last, I had to take help from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Srinivasa Reddy, against whom I worked in the previous election, to receive legal aid to get the case quashed in the high court”, she explained.

The state’s deputy chief minister Amzath Basha Shaik Bepary also hails from the Kadapa district. When no one from the YSR Congress came to her rescue, Hazeera says she had to take help from a TDP leader.

Self-immolation bid

In another disturbing case in the Kakinada district, Shaik Sattar attempted to die by self-immolation on the premises of the district collector’s office in the second week of October.

He had been seeking protection for his family from a gang which is accused of sexually assaulting his 10-year-old daughter. The police at Bommuru near Rajahmundry arrested three persons under the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on October 10 after Sattar’s wife filed a complaint.

Later, a counter-case was booked against the victim’s family under SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the police, after they received a complaint from one of the accused who is from a Scheduled Castes.

Sattar’s family said they were under pressure to withdraw the complaint. He attempted to die by suicide allegedly after the district superintendent of police refused to meet him. In a petition addressing the SP, Sattar alleged that the police had booked the counter case under pressure from a local MLA of the ruling party, as one of the accused is his supporter.

Mohammed Farooq Shubli, president of the Forum for Protection of Muslims Rights, criticised the Jagan government for its mishandling of such cases. He said that while the chief minister had appointed a Muslim leader as the deputy CM and has several legislators from the community, there seems to be an apathy regarding cases of harassment and assault.

Also Read: Andhra: Police Tonsure Dalit Man for ‘Unruly Behaviour’ Towards YSR Congress Leader

Tonsure victim vows to join Naxalites

In July, a Dalit man was tonsured by the police at a station. The victim is waging a lone battle to bring the man behind the horrific incident to book. The SI and a few constables were arrested for their involvement in the incident but the police are yet to lay their hands on the local YSR Congress leader Krishnamurthy, allegedly at whose behest Indagamilli Varaprasad was tonsured by the SHO and his men.

Vexed with the alleged official apathy in his case, Prasad wrote to the President Ram Nath Kovind seeking permission to join Naxalites and avenge humiliation meted out to him by upper-caste man.

Andra Malyadri of AP Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi, an anti-caste outfit, said that it is disturbing to note that in many cases of atrocities against Dalits since the Jagan government came to power, the police and sections of the ruling YSR Congress were the perpetrators. Giving a few examples, he said that in Chirala, a youngster from a Dalit community was beaten to death by a local SI for not wearing a mask. In Chittor district, a magistrate who is a Dalit was attacked by men allegedly close to a minister and the police were accused of being indifferent to registering a complaint from the victim, Malyadri said.

Varaprasad, president of the AP branch of the OBC Samkshema Sangham (ONC Welfare Association), said as many as 50 cases of harassment, attacks and social boycotts involving members of the OBCs have come to his notice in the recent past. He said the trend is quite alarming.

Prasad explained that by utilising reservations, backward classes have made rapid progress in literacy, employment and in the political arena over a period of time. And in the process, they began to assert themselves, which saw the upper castes, which have sway over political power, retaliate with violence.

Upsetting Jagan’s apple-cart

The YSR Congress rode to power in 2019 after forging a formidable alliance of Muslim and Christian minorities, Dalits and backward castes. In an apparent bid to tout his government’s vision of social justice, Jaganmohan Reddy in an unprecedented way appointed four deputy CMs from marginalised communities. Apart from Amjad Basha Shaik Bepari), Narayana Swamy (a Dalit), Dharmana Krishna Das (a BC leader) and Pushpa Vani (a Scheduled Tribe woman) were appointed as deputy CMs.

But social justice will not be delivered to the subaltern sections by merely appointing a few of them as ministers and deputy CMs (who do not have any powers), remarks an observer, wishing to remain anonymous.

The feudal structure of the state, which is largely agrarian, by and large remains unchanged, commented KVPS leader Malyadri. He said the political power continues to be dominated by the upper castes. The fate of weaker sections will not change without the elimination of this feudal structure, irrespective of which party is in power, Malyadri believes.

If the spate of crimes is any indication, Jagan’s rhetoric about social justice is not translating into the empowerment of the marginalised sections on the ground level, thanks to impediments in the police machinery and even within his party.