The Congress’ hopes of a revival in Andhra Pradesh were dashed as it drew a blank in the third successive election in the state, failing to win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat.
A decade after it was wiped out due to people’s anger over the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, things have not changed for the party.
The Congress leadership had hoped that the party would recover to make its presence felt in a few constituencies and even open up its account.
However, the national party once again found itself totally rejected by the state’s people. The Congress polled just 1.72 per cent votes in the Assembly polls and 2.66 per cent votes in the Lok Sabha elections. In the 2014 elections, Congress had secured only 2.77 per cent votes. The vote share dropped further to 1.23 per cent in 2019.
In a state, where politics is dominated by regional players, the national parties have no significant presence.
Political analysts say the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could secure eight Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats mainly due to its alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP).
In 2019 when the BJP had contested alone, it had drawn a blank with a vote share of 0.84 per cent. This time, the TDP-led alliance scripted a landslide win to wrest power from the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The alliance, which also comprised the Jan Sena Party, bagged 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly and also won 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
The Congress’ hopes of a revival were based on the belief that the public anger may have dissipated. The party leadership had appointed Y.S. Sharmila President of the party’s state unit early this year with the hope that the daughter of former Chief Minister, the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), could revive the party’s fortunes.
Sharmila, sister of outgoing Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, brought some enthusiasm into the party by leading a few protests on public issues. Claiming to be the real inheritor of YSR’s political legacy, she directly took on her brother by targeting him for ignoring her after becoming the Chief Minister in 2019. By entering the fray as Congress from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, a YSR family stronghold, she challenged her brother, who had once again given a ticket to their cousin Y. S. Avinash Reddy. As Avinash Reddy was last year named as an accused by the CBI in the murder of former minister and their uncle Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, Sharmila slammed her brother for shielding the murder accused.
Supported by Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Y.S. Sunitha Reddy, Sharmila appealed to people not to vote for Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party for allegedly promoting the politics of murder. Sharmila was expected to give a tough fight to Avinash Reddy but she finished a poor third. Avinash Reddy won the seat for a third consecutive time, with a majority of over 62,000 votes against his nearest rival C. Bhupesh Subbarami Reddy of the TDP.
Sharmila polled 1.41 lakh votes, the highest by any Congress candidate in these elections. In almost all constituencies, Congress candidates finished the distant third. Former Union Ministers M.M. Pallam Raju, J.D. Seelam, and Chinta Mohan all faced crushing defeats once again.
