Vijayawada: Political heat peaked in the scorching summer in AP with the high-pitched programmes of the ruling YSRC and main opposition Telugu Desam attracting the masses.
TD chief Chandrababu Naidu gave the “Reject Jagan, Save AP” call from the Mahanadu meeting of his party to the people, saying the people should get rid of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in order to safeguard the interests of the state.
Countering it, Vijayasai Reddy and other YSRC leaders gave a “Kick Babu, Save AP” slogan stating that Naidu, a non-resident of AP living in Hyderabad should be permanently kicked out to protect this state from dirty and anti-public politics.
The TD Mahanadu was held in online mode due to the Corona crisis for the past two years. Hence Naidu planned the Mahanadu in a grander manner this time to rejuvenate the party cadres and highlight the Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s “failures”, virtually sounding the bugle for the 2024 Assembly and Parliament elections.
The ruling YSRC has started the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam mass contact programme while Naidu embarked on the Badude Badudu protests and public meetings.
The YSRC giving priority to BCs drew a new political strategy in the name of the Samajika Nyaya Bheri Bus Yatra for four days to highlight the Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s welfare and development programmes for the SC, ST, BC and minority communities.
Analysts say BCs form 50 per cent of the population in AP and they were generally supporters of the TD as the party founder NTR had given top priority to BCs in TD and later this was continued by Naidu.
For the past 10 years, Jagan Mohan Reddy reached out to the BCs and got their support during his Padayatra. This had helped him win the 2019 Assembly polls with a landslide majority. Now, Naidu is trying to get back the support of the BCs and aims to give top priority to BCs in the ticket distribution process for the next Assembly polls.
Analysts say Jagan Mohan Reddy gave top priority to BCs in the Cabinet, government and nominated posts. Further, many BCs won elections from general seats on YSRC tickets due to the people’s preference for Jagan. The YSRC started the Bus Yatra with 17 ministers, explaining to the people the good work the present government did for the BCs. The Yatra is also highlighting the fact that several BC leaders got various posts in the Jagan-led dispensation.
Analysts say the YSRC is having the upper hand in the present political campaigns. It is conducting four days of Bus Yatra from May 26 against the two-day Mahanadu on May 27 and 28.
It is also noted that the Direct Beneficiary Transfer (DBT) scheme to all on a saturation basis, providing the benefits of welfare schemes to even the supporters of the opposition parties, is also going to yield good results for the ruling party.
Minister for education Botsa Satyanarayana said that Bus Yatra was aimed at making the people aware of the Jagan government welfare schemes and development activities and the YSRC’s commitment to the causes of the SC, ST, BC and minority segments of the society. The Bus Yatra was hoped to get a good response and a public meeting would be held at Narasaraopet on Saturday.
