The leadership of YSR Congress (YSRC), which has been exuding confidence about emerging victorious in Seemandhra till the counting of votes began on Friday, was crestfallen completely by evening with the party’s shocking defeat at the hands of TDP.
In spite of party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s brave front, the fear of looming defeat started creeping in among the contestants from Monday, when the rival TDP made a clean sweep of municipal elections both in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh.
The party’s tally of 67 seats is bolstered mostly by its performance in Rayalaseema where it has bagged 30 out of 52 seats. It fared badly in Coastal Andhra by winning only 37 out of 123 seats there with Nellore and Prakasam districts providing some saving grace by giving 13 of 22 seats to YSR Congress.
As it was purely a one-man show of the party president from selection of candidates to campaigning, the blame for defeat also goes to him in spite of the reasons such as poor selection of candidates, neglect of the rival’s strength and his inability to consolidate some communities’ support to the party in Central Andhra that proved fatal to the party. As no senior leader of the party was willing to go on record analysing the reasons for the defeat, insiders told The Hindu that it was Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy’s overconfidence and over-dependence on his charisma and late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s welfare schemes hit the party’s prospects most. In addition to the Modi factor that worked wonders for the TDP-BJP combine, the election in Seemandhra had boiled down to personality contest between TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Will play constructive role: Jagan
YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy has accepted defeat in Seemandhra and said his party will play a responsible and constructive role in the Opposition for the next five years.
“People believed in the ‘Modi wave’ and the false promises of TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and voted for the combine. We respect their verdict and wholeheartedly admit defeat with a vow to stand by them in their hour of need in the next five years,” Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said while reacting to the poll outcome here on Friday.
Mr. Reddy exuded confidence that his party would come to power after five years.
