The outcome of the recent assembly elections in Telangana is believed to be some kind of eye-opener for YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
His erstwhile Telangana counterpart and Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao was behaving like a monarch and used to consider the party as his family enterprise, caring a damn for the other party leaders and people.
KCR was under the impression that the people would for his party by looking at his face and getting mesmerised with his talk, irrespective of the anti-incumbency against his party MLAs.
In fact, people were not very unhappy with KCR but with his party MLAs, whose corruption reached beyond boundaries and they, too, started behaving like monarchs. They, too, thought KCR’s charisma and his welfare schemes alone would get them re-elected.
That is why, KCR did not change the candidates in 95 percent of the constituencies, despite the intelligence reports that all is not well with the party at the grassroots level because of the MLAs. He didn’t listen to anyone and announced the candidates’ names well in advance.
In Andhra Pradesh, too, a similar situation was prevailing till recently. Like KCR, Jagan, too, has been treating his party as his family enterprise and all the MLAs as his subordinates.
He had been under the impression that nobody would question his decisions and people would vote for his welfare schemes blindly without looking at the credentials of the MLAs. He has been supremely confident that his party would get 175 out of 175 seats.
Though there had been reports from I-PAC that the performance of the MLAs has been poor and their winning chances are bleak, he did not think of making many changes in the candidates, except in those places where the party is relatively weak.
But after watching the election results in Telangana, Jagan has apparently realised that he cannot take the things granted from the people. While the overall political climate is favourable to him, he has realised that he should drop at least 25-30 MLAs and give tickets to fresh faces, if the party has to come to power again.
The YSRC chief has also started reshuffling of the constituencies of his party MLAs in some districts so that their winning prospects would improve.
According to sources, Jagan is contemplating changes or dropping of MLAs in the assembly segments under the following Parliamentary constituencies to overcome the anti-incumbency factor. They are:
Srikakulam: Amudalavalasa, Pathapatnam. Tekkali and Ichapuram
Vizianagaram: Rajam (SC), Bobbili, Etcherla, Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam (South).
Anakapalle: Pendurthi, Payakaraopet (SC), Chodavaram and Anakapalle
Araku: Araku Valley (ST), Paderu
Kakinada: Prathipadu, Jaggampeta, Pithapuram
Amalapuram: Razole (SC), Ramachandrapuram, Amalapuram (SC) and P Gannavaram (SC)
Rajahmumdry: Rajahmundry city
Narasapuram: Undi, Tadepalligudem
Eluru: Chintalapudi (SC), Polavaram (ST) and Unguturu
Machilipatnam: Avanigadda, Pedana
Vijayawada: Nandigama (SC), Tiruvuru (SC), Vijayawada West, Vijayawada Central and Jaggaiahpet
Guntur: Tadikonda (SC), Prathipadu (SC), Ponnuru, Guntur West, Mangalagiri , Guntur East
Narsaraopet: Sattenapalli, Chilakaluripet
Bapatla: Repalle, Vemuru (SC), Santanutalapadu (SC), Addanki and Parchur
Ongole: Darsi, Erragondapalem {SC}, Giddaluru, Kondepi (SC) and Markapuram
Nellore: Kanduluru, Kavali and Nellore (rural)
Tirupati: Gudur (SC), Sullurpet (SC) and Satyaveedu (SC)
Chittoor: Gangadhara Nellore (SC), Puthalapattu (SC) and Chittoor
Rajampet: Madanapalle, Tamballapalle and Rajampet
Kadapa: Jammalamadugu, Kamalapuram
Kurnool: Kodumuru (SC), Kurnool and Yemmiganuru, Pattikonda, Aluru
Nandyal: Nandikotkuru (SC)
Hindupur: Puttaparthi, Hindupur, Penukonda, Madakasira (SC), Kadiri
Anantapur: Singanamala (SC), Guntakal, Kalyanadurgam and Rayadurgam
