Andhra Pradesh will go to polls for the third time in its brief electoral history on May 13th and the leading parties are in all readiness for what promises to be a close fight. In such close election trends, the party that shows the most dominance and peak electioneering skills in the last minute will emerge victorious.
Though the administration of the ruling party in its five-year tenure will be on the back of the minds of the voters, effective electioneering in the last 3-4 months is what matters. This is where Jagan Mohan Reddy left Telugu Desam in the dust in 2019 as he executed a foolproof election campaign with great help from Prashant Kishor and IPAC.
Coming to 2024, Jagan Mohan Reddy has again started his electioneering game with two months to go for the polls. His Siddham meetings and ‘one vs all’ motto appear to be working the trick for YSR Congress.
There is an emerging trend that the alliance’s graph which peaked immediately after the coming together of TDP, JSP and BJP was announced, has been witnessing a downward dip.
Incidents like BJP not giving MP ticket to hard-fighting Raghu Rama Krishna Raju and supposedly falling for Jagan’s lobbying have raised doubts on the integrity of the alliance. This has led to a public perception that BJP is not fully committed to working in tune with the alliance.
Adding to that, Modi’s soft-touch speech in the Guntur meeting where he avoided speaking against Jagan, except for a generic remark on YCP’s affiliation with Congress, gave YCP the chance to show BJP is still indirectly aligning with Jagan.
According to the trusted Atmasakshi Group Survey on AP polls, YCP has taken a minor lead in the electoral trends as it is projected to win 93-106 seats while the alliance is ahead in 50-69 seats.
Going by this survey, the alliance which started on a very bright note upon its announcement is seeing a sudden drop in electoral trends two months before the election.
But all is not lost just yet. If TDP, JSP, and BJP cadres work tirelessly on the collective aim of bringing down the Jagan government in AP, things can turn around as there is enough time to change the perception of the voters.