YSRCP seeks to steady ship after witnessing slew of desertions last week

VIJAYAWADA: It's election season in Andhra Pradesh and it comes as no surprise that leaders across the political spectrum in the State are jumping ship to rival parties ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Hectic activity was witnessed in the last one week and the YSRCP bore the brunt of a lot of casualties.

Among the big names, MLC Dokka Manikya Varaprasad Rao, who won as an MLA from Tadikonda constituency two consecutive times earlier, expected to get the YSRCP ticket this time. But, he was hugely disappointed with the party high command’s decision to field Mekathoti Sucharita who is an MLA from Prathipadu.

With reports emerging that the MLC could be joining the TDP or the Congress, the YSRCP tried to placate the leader. So far, Varaprasad hasn't responded and has been staying away from party activities.

Similarly, party MLC Md Iqbal, who was formerly the YSRCP incharge for Hindupur Assembly constituency, resigned from the party and also quit his MLC post last week.

Iqbal was a former IG of Rayalaseema who contested on a YSRC ticket from Hindupur against TDP sitting MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna in 2019. Even though he was defeated, the YSRCP nominated him as an MLC. However, Iqbal had frequent clashes with local leaders in the last five years. In his resignation, Iqbal said he was quitting party for personal reasons. Speculations were rife that he got an invitation to join the TDP.

The ruling party suffered another setback in Anantapur district as former Minister Samanthakmani and her son Ashok resigned from the YSRCP this week. Samanthakmani was hoping for a party ticket from Singanamala. Her daughter and former MLA Yamini Bala too resigned couple of days ago from the YSRCP.

There was dissent within the TDP camp too as YSRCP rebel MP K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju was allotted the Undi Assembly ticket by Chandrababu Naidu. The MP had joined the party only on April 5 and was allotted a ticket a day later. Initially, the TDP had given the ticket to sitting MLA Mantena Ramaraju. Irked by this late decision, Ramaraju's followers protested against the decision.

Skewed opinion polls

Meanwhile, opinion polls are heavily divided for Andhra Pradesh predicting extreme outcomes. Case in point, the India Today 'Mood of The Nation' Survey predicted that in the Lok Sabha elections, the YSRCP would only win eight seats while the TDP+ is primed to win 17 seats. Conversely, TIMES NOW's-ETG Research survey has predicted that the ruling party could retain around 21-22 seats while the TDP-JSP-BJP combine could only garner win around 3-4 seats.