Hyderabad: Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed her first and the only election meeting at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, last week. The attendance was embarrassingly thin and there were not more than 7,000 people. They remained indifferent all through Sonia Gandhi's speech and did not clap even once. The public meeting was a total flop show and the Congress realised that it has lost everything in Andhra Pradesh.
According to a senior political analyst, the poor response to Sonia Gandhi's public meeting was expected and the Congress should not have organised it in the first place.
It is a well known fact that the fight in divided Andhra Pradesh is now between YSR Congress Party led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the TDP-BJP alliance led by N Chandrababu Naidu. The Congress is nowhere in the political arena of Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh.
The people are voting for both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously on May 7. The divided state has 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats. For both Jagan and Naidu, it is a 'do or die' battle. So much is at stake for them. As a local politician says "whoever loses this election, will be history".
Jagan is riding on his father the late Dr YS Rajashekhara Reddy wave. He is seeking the votes to fulfil the dreams of his father and take revenge on the Congress, which he claims has betrayed his family and the people of AP by dividing the state.
Jagan, who has already positioned himself as the sole protector of Andhra people is telling the people that he will change the fate of Andhra Pradesh with five signatures and 6 major policy decisions, if he comes to power.
His public meetings are also drawing a huge crowd across Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. Jagan is contesting in the assembly election from his family pocket borough Pulivendula in Kadapa district.
His supporters claim that he will be the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in the next two weeks.
Jagan has fielded his mother YS Vijayalakshmi from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat against BJP AP president T Haribabu. Her candidature has enthused the YSRCP followers in north costal AP and his sister YS Sharmila has extensively campaigned in the region.
Jagan fans feel that he has an edge and the people will give him one chance. As expected corruption charges against him are not main issues in this election. The creation of Telangana and the 'betrayal' by the Congress are dominating the poll scene.
Jagan is banking on the support of his own Reddy caste, Brahmins, SC/STs, Muslims and Christian votes for a clear victory.
The TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is fighting his toughest political battle this time. After a lot of dilly dallying he forged an alliance with the BJP, which he dumped 10 years ago calling it the most communal party.
Naidu has reluctantly ceded four Lok Sabha and 13 Assembly seats to the BJP. The BJP has no organizational structure in AP and it is depending solely on the so-called Modi wave. Most of its candidates are also not well known in their constituencies. The TDP workers are also not working for the BJP candidates. There are more than a dozen TDP rebels in the fray.
Naidu is seeking votes promising a better future and development of the divided state. But, his ambiguous stand on the division of state and his tie up with the BJP which fully backed the Congress in the Parliament during voting on Telangana are likely to go against him. Naidu is seeking re-election from Kuppam assembly seat in Chittoor district.
The badly beaten Congress has fielded union ministers M M Pallam Raju, Kishore Chandra Deo, Kriparani Killi and Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy in the Lok Sabha election. But, none of them are confident of retaining their seat. Telugu film star and union minister Chiranjeevi is leading the Congress campaign in a state, which has turned completely hostile to the party.
A victory for Jagan may put an end to Naidu's dreams of returning to power and playing a major role at the Centre. If Naidu beats Jagan, then it will be a different story.
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