YSR Congress party, which has celebrated its 12th anniversary of its foundation on Saturday, is supremely confident that it is going to be a long-term player in the Andhra Pradesh politics; and its president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is going to be in power for at least another two terms.
Well, for many, it appears to be some sort of overconfidence on the part of Jagan to assume that he would be in power for another 10 years.
The rampant corruption at the grassroots level, lawlessness of the MLAs, a few hasty decisions of the chief minister without adequate homework and inept handling of the state financial position might have given rise to this impression that he is overconfident.
However, strategists close to Jagan say that he has lot of clarity as to what he should do come back to power.
He might appear banking too much on his welfare schemes, particularly Navaratnalu (nine jewels), which is taking a heavy toll on the state finances and analysts say it is going to be difficult for him to sustain the schemes in the long run.
But Jagan is not actually depending only on the welfare schemes. He is focussing on two major programmes that would turn the fate of the generations: education and healthcare.
He has been investing in these two sectors that would go a long way in firmly rooting the party among the people.
The introduction of English medium in the government schools at all levels, establishment of foundation schools to teach pre-primary courses in the government schools on the lines of convent schools, improvement of school infrastructure under Nadu-Nedu programme and revamping of hostels are all part of the efforts to improving the education.
The Jagananna Amma Vodi scheme aimed at improving enrolment of students in the schools is the master stroke of the government.
Similarly, Jagan is also focussing on health sector, improving the primary health care at all levels.
The concept of Village Clinics and Urban Clinics, bringing all kinds of treatments under Arogya Sri scheme and construction of government hospitals in a big way are all part of the health care improvement.
“Education and healthcare are the two concepts that worked wonders for Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Admi Party in Delhi. Jagan has deputed his senior officials to Delhi to study these models and has started implementing the same in Andhra Pradesh. They are going to fetch good results for the YSRC in the coming days,” an analyst said.
