By Siva Gorripati
VISAKHAPATNAM: The North Andhra YSRCP leaders and cadres are unable to digest the defeat of their North Andhra Graduates Constituency candidate Seethamraju Sudhakar and the state leadership is now focussed on the issue and is trying to bring confidence and coordination among the cadres and leaders.
It is recalled that the YSRCP received a big jolt in the elections as Sudhakar was defeated by TDP candidate Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao in the second preferential vote, which is totally neglected by the YSRCP leaders and cadres. Many YSRCP leaders could not comprehend fully the process of the MLC election. So, no leader asked the voters for the second preferential vote. Now, the YSRCP central leadership is focused on the issue, and brainstorming discussions are reportedly going on.
“Our leaders in Tadepalli are enquiring about the facts. What went wrong and why the local leaders were not focused on the second preferential vote? Not only this, whether the local leaders did not support the new regional coordinator or failure of coordinating other leaders in the North Andhra by the candidate Sudhakar?,” a senior leader told TOI on condition of anonymity. He further said that this debacle was a wake-up call for YSRCP, and complete post-mortem and course correction is required.
According to party leaders, the party central leadership has focussed on the issue as the victory has given a boost to opposition TDP in the entire North Andhra region where it has only six MLAs including four in Vizag and two in Srikakulam out of 34 MLAs and one MP out of five in the undivided North Andhra districts. North Andhra used to be a bastion for TDP but it received a severe jolt in the 2019 elections due to CM Jagan Mohan Reddy's charisma and strong efforts.
Surprisingly, the TDP got a better majority in North Andhra than in East Rayalaseema and North Rayalaseema. The thumping Majority of the Yellow Party left the YSRCP defenseless.
Interestingly, the YSRCP won 97% of all local body polls such as MPTC, ZPTC, Sarpanch, and Municipal polls without giving much scope to the opposition parties earlier. But it has received a jolt in the MLC elections, which shocked the party's senior leaders including the party supremo.
YSRCP had foiled all efforts of opposition parties in the earlier elections when TDP tried to make use of the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) privatization issue. But the party leadership facilitated steel plant unions to meet the CM and union ministers, besides collecting signatures from 125 MPs in protest against the privatization move.
Already political heat is on in the state and general elections are around the corner. All political parties are chalking out plans to win the election battle with new strategies to counter the other parties. Now, the election battle has become tough, and needs commanders with fighting spirit It is waiting to see whether the YSRCP would infuse the confidence among the cadres and leaders or not.
