New Delhi, September 06: The Congress party has lots to worry about as far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned in the post YSR scenario. Seniosr Congress leaders returning after paying their respects to the late chief inister fear that the party has its task cut out, both, to find a suitable Chief Ministerial candidate replacement for YSR, as well as somebody who at least can retain the support base of the party in the state. “It’s a big big loss, nobody knows how we will fill this void” says a senior political manager of the Congress party.
While the immediate task before the Congress leadership is to ensure a smooth transition and the state goverment is not destabilised by attempts to orchestrate a demand for anointing YSR’s son Jaganmohan as the next Chief Minister, the more long term concern for the party is to keep its support base intact in the state.
Andhra Pradesh is critical to the Congress party and the spectacular showing of the party, was principally responsible for the return of the UPA to power at the centre. In 2004 the Congress had won 29 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats an in the 2009 elections it won 33 seats, four more than it had done in the previous elections. The Opposition had pinned its hopes on checkmating the Congress’s return to power by cutting into its tally in AP but the strategy bacfired big time and the Congress managed to surge ahead at the centre on the back of its remarkable showing in AP.
AP has for most parts been a Congress bastion but the party appeared to be going downhill after the emergence of NTR and later after Chandrababu Naidu took over the reign of the TDP. Congress had to spend ten long years out of power, and it was only in 2004 that it managed to recapture power. Ever since then the party has managed to consolidate and spread units hold on the electorate.
The fear in Congress circles is that YSR in his lifetime had not only emerged at its tallest leader in the state he had also in the process marginalised all the others , leaving very few people with the stature and leadership qualities to come to the fore. With YSR now gone, the state unit has been left leaderless and the party does not have anybody who can readily fill the void.
For all the noise emanating from AP in favor of Jaganmohan, the fact, say Congress leaders is that he an absolute green horn and while his elevation may help in keeping the powerful Reddy vote intact, he still does not have the pan AP appeal of his father. “AP is too crucial a state for us, if we slip there its effects will be felt at the national level” says a CWC member.
—Agencies