Before the recent Assembly bypoll to the Badvel constituency, the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) seemed to be in control. Therefore, it is no surprise that the party, which had introduced a range of welfare measures and which was pitted against a weak Opposition, won by a majority.
Triangular contest
Badvel is a Scheduled Caste-reserved segment in Kadapa, which is the home district of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of the sitting YSRCP MLA, Gunthoti Venkata Subbaiah. The YSRCP fielded Dasari Sudha, a practising doctor and Subbaiah’s wife, thus adding a sympathy factor to the poll. She won by a majority of over 90,000 votes. The candidates of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress lost deposits in the triangular contest.
Interestingly, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) preferred to stay away from the contest on what it termed humanitarian grounds. Initially, the party had named a candidate to contest the seat but later withdrew from the election stating that it was following a tradition of the party of not contesting an election where a family member of a deceased candidate was in the fray. The actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party also did not contest the bypoll.
During its campaign, the BJP said there was underdevelopment in Badvel and accused the YSRCP of giving VIP treatment to Pulivendla, the native constituency of the Chief Minister. This strategy did not do the party any good.
The YSRCP saw this as a matter of prestige and deployed a team to campaign for the polls. The team included Deputy Chief Ministers Amjad Bhasha and Narayana Swamy, Kadapa district in-charge and education minister Adimulapu Suresh and senior minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy. Besides BJP president for Andhra Pradesh, Somu Veerraju, the party also had MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, BJP National Secretary Sunil Deodhar and others campaigning for the bypoll. Not to be left behind, Pradesh Congress president S. Sailaja Nath campaigned with his 24-member team. The Congress has lost ground in the State after the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. This was a bypoll, but given the campaign, it was evidently treated as a high-stakes election.
An emotional victory
For Ms. Sudha, Badvel was an emotional victory. She thanked the voters and the Chief Minister for giving her the opportunity to contest the seat that her husband had won by a majority. Commenting on the victory, YSRCP Chief Whip Gadikota Srikanth Reddy said the poll result is the victory of the Dalits and the common man. He said it indicates that people are happy with the welfare schemes and other people-friendly initiatives of the party. He said, “Though the TDP and Jana Sena Party were not in the fray, they were indirectly involved [in the election] and worked with the BJP. The TDP said it would not contest and then did all the background work for the BJP. The TDP’s misleading tactics did not work. And people have rejected the BJP, which failed in fulfilling the promises made to Andhra Pradesh during bifurcation, chief among them being [granting] of Special Category Status.”
As part of the poll promise, the YSRCP is implementing ‘Navaratnalu’ – nine welfare schemes aimed at providing health and financial support to farmers, women, students, among others. Broadly, the benefits planned for each family are to the tune of ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh per annum. The party largely attributes its grand success in Badvel, its bastion, to its welfare measures.
appaji.r@thehindu.co.in
