VIJAYAWADA: The YSR Congress headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has echoed the BC, SC, ST and Minority Mantra through its Samajika Sadhikara Bus Yatra. It is keen on a continuation of the support it got from the backward communities, who have a vote share of around 55 per cent.
Through a cleverly fine-tuned strategy, leaders of BC, SC, ST and Minority communities were getting top priority in these meetings. The Bus Yatra is projecting the BCs as the Backbone Communities for the YSRC in the ‘Kurkshetra Yuddham 2024’.
Ministers belongs to these communities – including Jogi Ramesh, Merugu Nagarjuna, Botsa Satyanarayana, Amzath Basha, Adimulapu Suresh, Venugopala Krishna, Seediri Appalaraju, Gumamnur Jayaram, Budi Mutyala Naidu, Anil Yadav, Rajanna Dora, Amaranath, Narayana Swamy and Karumuri Nageswara Rao – along with MLAs and leaders of BC, SC, ST and minorities are in the forefront of the Bus Yatra and the meetings.
Notably, Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari held the Nijam Gelavali Yatra, under which she addressed meetings in various places. But the programme was stopped after Naidu’s release from prison on bail. Nara Lokesh’s Padayatra and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s Varahi yatra also came to a halt for the past few days.
Further, the release of TD’s full election manifesto, slated for Dasara festival, was also cancelled due to the imprisonment of Naidu. A poll alliance is yet to be formalised between TD and JS, and this is holding back the yatras of the TD and JS, sources said.
Political analysts say that the YSRC is taking advantage of this lull in the TD-JS camp. The YSRC is actively conducting the Social Empowerment Bus Yatra meetings and explaining to the people the good done to them by the Jagan-led government.
Last year, the YSRC organised a similar Bus Yatra styled as Social Justice Yatra but it was not very successful. This time, the Social Empowerment Yatra is gathering support as leaders of BC, SC, ST and minority communities are playing a major role.
Analysts note that in the united AP state, a majority of the posts in the ruling party and government used to go to upper castes. Such a scenario was changed by TD founder NT Rama Rao, who gave priority to BCs in the party and his government since 1983.
TD continued the tradition of giving importance to BCs. The yellow party turned itself into a BCs party due to the support it got from the majority BC communities. However, after facing defeat in the 2014 election, the YSRC changed its strategies and started efforts to attract the BCs, the traditional supporters of the TD.
The YSRC offered tickets to a lot of BCs in the 2019 elections even in unreserved and general seats and further passed a BC Declaration and gave priority to minorities, SCs and STs. This helped the party a lot in the wresting of power from the TD.
This time too, chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is banking on the support of BCs, SCs, STs and minorities to win the 2024 Kurukshetra battle.
Ministers Amzath Basha, Jogi Ramesh, Nageswara Rao and others said the chief minister was relentlessly working for BC, SC, ST and minorities. “Hence, they are encouraging the Bus Yatra. The Bus Yarta will help the YSRC to return to power in the 2024 elections,” they claimed.
