Jagan absence: Game of one-upmanship hits YSRC

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Though recent surveys have been predicting a sure win for the YSR Congress whenever elections are held, the situation on the ground is not so rosy. With party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy behind bars, differences between leaders are eating away at the foundations of the party.

There are deep differences among party leaders and so-called ticket aspirants in almost every district. With no strong command centre to unify them, many leaders are claiming that their names have been cleared for a particular Assembly or Lok Sabha constituency and are going ahead with their own plans to promote themselves.

It is a known fact in the party that the non-availability of Mr Reddy for guiding party affairs and to take decisions regarding fielding candidates for upcoming polls has had an adverse effect. At several places there are five to 10 self-declared “candidates” and all of them are following their own agendas. There are also allegations about these leaders collecting a lot of money.

The much publicised “Intinta YSR” (YSR at each household) programme launched by Y.S. Vijayalak-shmi is still a non-starter due to differences among these self-styled leaders of the party. While Ms Vijayal-akshmi has been launching agitations and visiting areas where major issues have cropped up, she is unable to take any final decisions as far as running day-to-day party affairs are concerned.

Though there are several state-level bodies including core committees etc., the leaders are unable to control the damage as party cadres in districts follow Mr Reddy alone and there is no unity and coordination among district leaders. In Nellore, it is MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy vs. Kakani Govardhana Reddy, S. Udaya Bhanu vs. Vangaveeti Radha in Krishna, Alla Nani vs. Meka Seshu Babu in West Godavari, J. Vijayalakshmi vs. Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose in East Godavari, Ambati Ra-mbabu vs. Lella Appireddy in Guntur and so on.

Mr Rambabu said: “It is quite common in political parties, there will be several aspirants for tickets. Also there is heavy demand in YSRC as it is sure to come to power in the next elections, but we need to address this issue and settle the differences.” Central governing council member Gattu Ramachandra Rao said, “The situation is not out of control; we need to focus on more coordination among leaders, which is being done.”