One poll debacle after another led to the Congress’s downfall in Andhra Pradesh. Now, after years of lying dormant, the party is trying to regain a foothold in the State. The cadre say they are finally feeling energised with the leadership motivating them, drawing up plans and being far more active.
The Congress won 33 of the State’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. But by 2019, its slide was rapid: voters in Andhra Pradesh did not elect even a single Congress representative either to the Assembly or Parliament, giving expression to their anger over the “unscientific” bifurcation of the State by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The people felt that State had been left in the lurch without a capital city and adequate assets, income, and infrastructure. Key leaders defected to Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and other parties.
While the Congress’s vote share was 36.55% in the 2009 Assembly elections, it dropped to 11.71% in 2014. In 2019, the party polled merely 1.17% of the total votes, even less than the 1.28% polled under NOTA. Moreover, the failure of the party high command to check internal leadership tussles in the State and deal with disunity further damaged the Congress’s prospects.
But things are changing now. Last November, Gidugu Rudra Raju’s appointment as president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee was seen as a strategic move to promote leadership of the youth and revive the party. Realising the importance of building the organisation and connecting with the cadre at the grassroots level, Mr. Rudra Raju first began motivating leaders and cadres. Meanwhile, the positive response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the State gave the party a glimmer of hope. The turnout for the yatra was better than what the party leadership had expected. Mr. Rudra Raju said the “pro-Congress undercurrent” was “evident” and that the hand, the party’s election symbol, was “still popular among people at the grassroots level.”
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The party has also been attacking the ruling government for its alleged misrule. Mr. Rudra Raju accused Mr. Reddy of misleading the people of the State into thinking that he was the true heir of the late Congress stalwart, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and wooing Dalits, minority communities and weaker sections who have traditionally been Congress supporters. But thanks to Mr. Reddy’s four and a half year “misrule”, people have realised their mistake and are ready to make amends this time, he claimed. Senior party leaders such as K.V. P. Ramachandra Rao also said that the ill-will against the Congress is on the wane due to the alleged failures of Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu and of Mr. Reddy in ensuring good governance.
To buttress the party structure, coordination committees have been constituted in 175 segments across the State. Members of these committees are currently attending orientation sessions to understand their roles and responsibilities. The party plans to take up key issues in the State such as the Polavaram project, which could run into heavy weather since the government has not yet settled the issue of embankments with the Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments, and the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, which has led to protests. The party plans to send senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh to the Polavaram dam site and Mr. Gandhi to the steel plant, to draw more public attention to these issues.
The spectacular victory of the Congress in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections has also boosted the morale of the State unit. Leaders feel that if the party manages to win the Assembly elections in Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh later this year, it may open new possibilities for the Congress.
The imminent merger of Y.S. Sharmila’s two-year-old YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress may also augur well for the Andhra Pradesh Congress. Ms. Sharmila, the daughter of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was the star campaigner for her brother, Jagan Mohan Reddy, during elections. As there are signs of anti-incumbency in the State, Congress leaders believe that Ms. Sharmila’s entry could further dent the ruling YSRCP. But despite the signs and hopes of revival, party veterans realise that the road is long and arduous.
