The Congress leadership in Delhi is eyeing its vote bank in Andhra Pradesh. The party wants to get back its past glory and get back its vote bank. The party had lost its vote bank to the ruling YSR Congress after the State was bifurcated in 2014.
The entire Congress vote bank went to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. Even the leaders have gone to the YSR Congress. The party is suffering due to lack of leaders and voters. A handful of leaders who are now with the Congress are unable to make any impact in electoral politics.
With an intention to get back the vote bank, the party appointed Y S Sharmila as the AP Congress Committee president. The party removed incumbent Gidugu Rudra Raju to facilitate her appointment. Rudra Raju was made a special invitee into the Congress Working Committee.
The Congress leadership believes that Sharmila would be able to bring the party’s vote bank to the party. She wants to fight her brother and AP chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and get his vote bank to the Congress.
The rank and file of the Congress have gone to the YSR Congress led by Jagan Mohan Reddy after the state was bifurcated. The party faced humiliating defeat in the 2014 general election to the state Assembly and was almost washed out of the political scene in the subsequent 2019 general election.
The Congress leadership now wants to use Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s legacy to fight and get back the past glory. The Congress believes that people of the state would accept Sharmila as the political heir of Dr Rajasekhar Reddy.
It is now to be seen whether the people would accept her as the political heir of Dr Rajasekhar Reddy or not. If people accept her, they will come back to the Congress giving a rude shock to Jagan Mohan Reddy.
It would be difficult for Jagan Mohan Reddy to retain his vote bank if people really take Sharmila as the political heir to Dr Rajasekhar Reddy. It has to be seen what Jagan Mohan Reddy would do when his sister gets down to the work as the new APCC president.
