YSRC, Congress competing to claim YSR legacy
VIJAYAWADA: YSRC led by former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and APCC headed by his blood sister Y.S. Sharmila are competing with each other over celebrating the 75th birth anniversary of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday, July 8.
The struggle between the siblings and parties they represent is to claim the legacy of YSR, a leader whom people admired. Jagan Mohan Reddy has called for celebrating YSR’s birth anniversary on a grand scale on July 8 throughout the state. He has already started visiting party leaders and workers who have been injured in attacks by ruling Telugu Desam activists after YSRC faced a massive debacle.
The party chief wants to hold the YSR Jayanthi on a large scale to fill confidence among YSRC rank and file and strengthen YSRC. Jagan will participate in the YSR Jayanthi programme at Idupulapaya. Birth anniversary programmes will be held in the YSRC central office at Tadepalli as well as offices all over the state.
Sharmila is planning to give a tough competition to Jagan Mohan Reddy in claiming the legacy of YSR and the late leader’s vote bank.
She is banking on many Congress leaders who had joined YSRC to get back to the parent party. As the first step in this process, Sharmila is going to project the 75th birth anniversary celebrations on Monday, July 8, as that of the much-liked and famous Congress Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Sharmila has personally invited top Congress leaders for the landmark anniversary, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to attend the ceremony.
It may be recalled that YSR brought the Congress to power twice in a row. He left an indelible mark in the hearts of the people with his welfare schemes like Aarogyasri, fee reimbursement, 108 services and others.
Unfortunately, YSR died in a helicopter accident on September 2, 2009, just a few months after taking charge as the Chief Minister of the united Andhra Pradesh for the second time in a row. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who entered politics as the successor of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in Congress, came out of the party and formed the YSRC bearing his father's name.
Though he could not get power in the 2014 elections, he created history in 2019 elections by winning 151 MLA and 22 MP seats. Simultaneously, during the period between 2014 and 2019, the strength of Congress dissipated, as people did not like the way the Congress party had divided the state. People moved towards the YSRC.
But matters changed swiftly in the 2024 elections. Jagan Mohan Reddy's party got limited to only 11 MLA and 4 MP seats. This had been due to the alliance between Telugu Desam, Jana Sena and BJP, apart from the entry of Y.S. Sharmila as APCC chief. Sharmila planned strategies to strengthen the Congress as PCC chief.
But in the 2024 elections, she could not succeed in winning seats for the Congress but succeeded in distracting people from the YSRC.