VIJAYAWADA: In his first response after Monday’s polling in AP, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed on Thursday that the YSRC would form the next government in Andhra Pradesh. “We will improve on our strength in the Assembly this time,” he said.
The Chief Minister visited the I-PAC office situated at Benz Circle in Vijayawada on Thursday and interacted with his party’s poll management team. He recalled how no one believed the YSRC would win 151 Assembly seats in the 2019 elections. “This time, the party will surpass that number,” the YSRC chief said.
Jagan Mohan Reddy countered the claims of political strategist Prashant Kishor that the YSRC would lose the present polls. He said, "The numbers would be far greater for the YSRC than what Prashant would have dreamt of."
He also expressed confidence that the party would secure 22 out of the 25 MP seats. “We are going to break our 2019 record. The whole country will be watching AP on the election results day on June 4,” he stated.
The elated I-PAC team members raised slogans of “CM…CM” and “Jai Jagan” when the YSRC chief made the claim that his party would surpass the previous levels of 151 MLAs and 22 MPs, this time.
The first response of the Chief Minister to questions about the likely results created a sensation in the political circles. The Opposition parties and their friendly media had predicted that the three-party alliance would win a majority of the seats and there would be tight fights in star constituencies.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “In I-PAC, a lot of conflict was going on. All of you are well aware of this. A lot of people do not understand the difference between the I-PAC headed by the Rishi team and what Prashant Kishor was doing. I told Rishi one thing: it's not Prashant that matters, but his team that matters.”
The Chief Minister claimed that his party’s success in this polls would be due to the efficient administration his government provided to the state. The sustained efforts of the I-PAC team over the past 18 months also would help the party create a record during the present elections, he said.
“Your (I-PAC team) services cannot be measured,” he said, to loud applause from the team members. He had interacted with the team in a similar manner after the completion of the 2019 elections.
The I-PAC team and YSRC cadres believe that AP’s 2019 election history will be repeated in 2024 due to the arduous efforts of Jagan Mohan Reddy during the five-months-long election campaign.
