YSR sweeps Andhra Pradesh; Reddy set to be chief minister

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, May 23

Andhra Pradesh is headed for a major victory for the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party both in the 175 Vidhan Sabha and the 25 parliamentary segments, decimating the incumbent Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by N Chandrababu Naidu, who also united 22 opposition parties against the ruling BJP at the Centre.

As per the trends available so far, the YSR Congress is ahead in 147 assembly segments giving a clear mandate in favour of Jagan Mohan Reddy to become the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu, who was hoping to get a clear majority for a second term has not only lost the assembly but even in the parliamentary elections his party is so far trailing in all but one segment.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu resigned from his post following the TDP’s loss in the Assembly elections.

He submitted his resignation to the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ESL Narasimhan who accepted it, a Raj Bhavan press communique said here.

The YSR Congress is expected to finish with an absolute majority and be much past the simple majority of 88. The YSR Congress is not aligned to the NDA or the UPA and had promised to support any party that promised a special status for Andhra Pradesh that was split into Andhra and Telangana in June 2014.

Chandrababu Naidu was part of the NDA but broke ties after last year’s budget, accusing the BJP government of not doing justice with the state. He then formulated the idea of “mahagathbandan” and joined hands with the Congress and other parties to keep the BJP out of power at the Centre. The current results will put him out of power both in the state of Andhra Pradesh as well as relegate him to insignificance at the Centre.

During the past five years, Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was the leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, undertook several record-breaking padyatras, where he questioned the inability of Naidu to get a special category status promised to Andhra Pradesh during the bifurcation.

Reddy was actively supported by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) and his son and working president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) KT Rama Rao. With the victory of YSR Congress the relationship between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that had gone sour on account of difference between KCR and Naidu is expected to improve. This may even help in a better coordination in resolving the pending post-bifurcation issues between the two Telugu states.