Jagan Revitalising YSRC Through Siddham Yatra, Attracting Opposition Leaders

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's Memantha Siddham Yatra has largely revitalised the YSRC party, as 150 leaders of various opposition parties and over 1,05,000 grassroots activists joined the ruling party at the Panchayat/Ward levels in the past 20 days.

Jagan Reddy changed candidates in 85 seats in the present elections. Hence, speculations were rife about ‘disappointed’ leaders leaving the party. Rather, things turned more in favour of the YSRC.

Only a few leaders left the party while large bands of leaders and activists from other parties joined YSRC.

Jagan Reddy has changed the pawns of election campaign dynamics by starting the bus yatra in the initial phase of the election campaign.

YSRC leaders recalled that Telugu Desam founder NT Rama Rao had effectively used his Chaitanya Ratham for election campaigns and later Chandrababu Naidu conducted road shows by bus in select places. Telugu film hero and actor K Chiranjeevi also used a van in the election campaign, but only to address public meetings.

For the first time, Jagan Reddy continuously used the bus for the election campaign and for the first time introduced ‘Ramp Walk’ at the public meetings, which turned out to be a big attraction.

A substantial influx of leaders and grassroots activists -- from ex-MLAs to mandal-level leaders – to the YSRC was witnessed just days before the elections – ever since the start of the Memantha Siddham yatra on March 27 from Idupulapaya in Kadapa district.

In the past 20 days of the yatra, approximately 150 prominent leaders from TD, JanaSena, BJP and Congress have publicly declared their support for the YSRC in the presence of the CM. Additionally, 83 leaders had joined the party prior to the yatra, bringing the total number to 250. This significantly strengthened the party's grip not only in specific regions but throughout the state.

Interestingly, over 105,000 grassroots activists at the Panchayat/Ward level have also joined the YSRC in the last 35 days, underscoring the party's expanding influence across the entire political spectrum.

Political analysts say that Jagan Reddy changed candidates in 85 assembly and parliament seats for this election, which was likely to cause a tumult within YSRC. But Jagan Reddy effectively managed dissent. This shattered the hopes of the Opposition parties. Only a few leaders from the YSRC joined other parties.

Minister Ambati Rambabu and other YSRC leaders said that a majority of people are supporting Jagan Reddy as the next CM. A majority of the pre-poll surveys have predicted a YSRC win in the elections. There was huge support from the masses to Jagan Reddy’s Memantha Siddham Yatra. This is prompting leaders from other political parties to join the YSRC, which would be an added advantage to Jagan Reddy in the present elections.