As the General Elections approach, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the alliance of Telugu Desam Party (TDP)- BJP-Jana Sena Party are busy luring the voters with a flurry of welfare schemes while focussing on what they have purportedly done for the State since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh 10 years ago.
But, five significant issues are bound to cast a major impact on their chances of victory, across party lines, which is why the two sides are already trading barbs over them.
The issues at stake are the demand for Special Category Status (SCS), the proposal to shift the capital out of Amaravati in the name of decentralisation, former MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy’s murder, the attack on Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with a ‘kodi-kathi’ (a knife used in cockfights) at Visakhapatnam airport by J. Srinivas in October 2018 and the slew of scams allegedly masterminded by former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
To start with, the SCS has been a political hot potato right from the day it was promised on the floor of the Rajya Sabha in February 2014 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu had insisted that it should be given for 10 years instead of just five.
Cutting a long story short, the National Democratic Alliance government expressed its inability to concede the State’s demand for SCS by citing the lack of a recommendation to that effect by the 14th Finance Commission.
Blame game
What the State ultimately got was Special Financial Assistance in lieu of the SCS. The YSRCP laid the blame for it at the TDP’s door and the TDP accused YSRCP of failing to mount pressure on the Modi government to honour the commitment in spite of having 22 MPs. The SCS had since been a bone of contention between the arch-rivals. Ironically, it is not a part of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The proposed shift of the capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam is another issue that infused a lot of bad blood between the YSRCP and the TDP while the BJP’s stand has been consistent but ‘dichotomous’ in the sense that it vehemently opposed moving the capital to the port city but has no objection to shifting the High Court from its current location at Nelapadu in Amaravati to Kurnool.
Then comes former MP Vivekananda Reddy’s murder that took place a few months before the 2019 elections. The then Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was quick to demand a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe but went on to withdraw his petition in the High Court soon after becoming the Chief Minister.
Interestingly, AP Congress Committee president Y.S. Sharmila recently gave the episode a curious twist by openly saying that her brother Mr. Jagan Reddy’s inaction amounted to protecting the conspirators who include sitting Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy.
Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Narreddy launched an equally blistering attack on Mr. Jagan but stopped short of accusing him of being involved in the ghastly murder, and observed that the onus of figuring it out lies on the CBI. Going a step further, she made a fervent appeal to the people not to vote for her ‘brother’s party’ as they could not afford to let ‘murderers rule the State’. This case is now being heard by the Telangana High Court.
Then there is the attack on Mr. Jagan by Srinivas in October 2018. The Opposition parties called it a drama enacted by Mr. Jagan for sympathy in the run-up to the 2019 elections while he suspected a larger conspiracy behind it. The NIA Court ruled out such a plot and categorically stated that Srinivas had no association with any political party. Srinivas was enlarged by the High Court on bail in February this year nearly 62 months after his arrest.
Last but not the least is the skill development scam case in which Mr. Naidu spent an unprecedented 53 days in the Rajahmundry central jail. The legal battle over it is under way in the Supreme Court.
There are multiple other cases against Mr. Naidu pending final adjudication in courts. The TDP called it political vendetta even as the government claimed to have concrete evidence of his misdeeds and asserted that truth would prevail.
