Lok Sabha Polls 2019: In Andhra’s Electoral Battle, No Place for BJP and Congress

With the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, likely to commence in just a span of few weeks, the political heat in Andhra Pradesh is at an all-time high now. While the upcoming elections in the South Indian state are expected to be dominated by the regional political parties, the BJP and the Congress are apparently left with limited roles to play.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party under Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has begun its campaign, urging the voters to give the party another tenure, while the main opposition YSR Congress, led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, appears to be confident enough to contest from all the constituencies all alone. A third key player, Jana Sena Party, under actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s leadership, is posing challenge to both the TDP and YSR Congress, with its friendship with the Left parties including CPI(M) and CPI.

The BJP and the Congress, on the other hand, have lost their ground in the state, and are eyeing opportunities for post-poll support.

The state has got 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats. In case of a hung parliament in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the winning party in the state will have more chances of being a kingmaker.

Special Category Status

In the last four and half years, if there was one demand that united the Andhras, it has been the ‘Special Category Status’, which was promised by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the parliamentary debates in 2014, before the AP State Reorganisation act came into existence. Promising the same, the BJP allied with the Telugu Desam Party during the 2014 polls, wherein the TDP came to power in the state and the BJP, at the Centre. As time flew, the BJP-led central government conveniently denied the special status to the state, and the TDP broke its alliance in early 2018. Since then, it has been projecting the BJP as the ‘enemy’ of the state. Interestingly, Pawan Kalyan had campaigned for the BJP and TDP alliance in 2014, who later on broke ties with both of them, while expanding his party in the state.

In the December Telangana Assembly elections, the TDP made unprecedented alliance with the Congress, but failed miserably in the adjacent Telugu-speaking state. Considering the Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s full support for Special Category Status to Andhra and Naidu’s eagerness to influence the ‘Maha Gathbandhan’, it is indicative of their possible moves post-results.

As the YSR Congress remained uncertain on the possible chances of any post-poll alliance with the BJP, Jagan Mohan Reddy has left the saffron party with a limited hope.

Jana Sena and the Left parties, had led the people’s movements in the state, but the new party has been highly relying on Pawan Kalyan’s popularity among youth.

In the 2014 elections, the TDP had won 103 MLA seats, 15 MP seats, while the YSR Congress had won 66 MLA seats and eight MP seats. The BJP had won four MLA seats, two MP seats, as the Congress won none.

Also read: Chandrababu Naidu Rocks the NDA Boat