'Major drift in A.P. Congress traditional vote bank'

Also points out party's inability to win confidence of people who benefitted from government schemes

HYDERABAD,30/06/2012:Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana and other Ministers at a meeting of the Coordination Committee to review the party's performance in the recent by-polls at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Saturday. ---PHOTO:NAGARA GOPAL

The ten-member committee of Ministers has admitted that the Congress party’s traditional vote bank has drifted away from it and there was urgent to redress its grievances and win back their loyalty before the 2014 general elections.

A fortnight after the ruling Congress suffered a drubbing in the by-elections to 18 Assembly and Nellore Lok Sabha seat, the committee held its maiden meeting in Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday to study the reasons for poor showing and suggest remedial measures.

Attended by the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, Member-convener Dharmana Prasada Rao and eight others, the meeting not only saw a danger signal in the dilution of traditional vote bank but its inability to win the confidence of lakhs of people who benefited from the government schemes.

Barring D.K. Aruna, who is away on a foreign tour, other Ministers – Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, N. Raghuveera Reddy, Kanna Lakshminarayana, B.Saraiah, C. Ramachandraiah, Pithani Satyanarayana, Thota Narasimham and Pinipe Viswaroop attended.

Apparently unnerved by the poll results, the party’s central leadership has expressed serious displeasure forcing the Chief Minister and the PCC chief to get into introspection mode.

Some Ministers did not mince words in admitting that it was a ‘blunder’ to arrest Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy ahead of the by-polls. This, they claimed led to a ground swell of sympathy in favour of the YSR Congress Party. Coupled with the anti-incumbency factor, voters exercised their franchise with vengeance against the ruling party, the Ministers reportedly said.

After the meeting, Mr. Dharmana Prasada Rao clarified that the panel was not constituted to conduct a post mortem of by-poll. “Our specific task is to ensure effective implementation of welfare and developmental programmes. We will study lapses and shortcomings and come out with solutions,” he said.

He said it was not unusual in a democracy for the ruling party to get weakened and for the opposition parties to gain strength.

“In Andhra Pradesh we are fighting three regional parties,” he said. On the drifting of traditional vote, he said: “We will analyse the reason and try to address the anguish of these particular sections.” The committee will submit its interim report in 15 days after another meeting next week.