What’s The Mood Of AP?

The municipal elections poll results apparently failed to reflect the people’s mood in Andhra Pradesh. The farmers of the Amaravati capital region have been protesting against the 3-capital formula, put forward by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, for more than 450 days but their anger has not manifested in the municipal poll results of Vijayawada or Guntur, despite close proximity to the capital region.

The YCP’s stupendous victory in both the corporations of Vijayawada and Guntur dealt a blow to the TDP which tried to raise the tempers by raking up the issue of Amaravati. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, during his campaigning, urged the people to stand for Amaravati but his appeal failed to evoke any emotion. In Guntur Municipal Corporation, the YCP won in 45 divisions and the TDP in 8 divisions out of the total 57.

Infighting affected TDP in Vijayawada

In Vijayawada, of the total 64 divisions, the YCP won 36 and restricted the TDP to a meagre 10 divisions. The TDP, which pinned hopes on Vijayawada and Guntur Corporations, in view of the domination of a community close to Naidu, was flabbergasted with the results. The yellow party was very confident that it would pitch its flag in Vijayawada city but the results proved something else. There is talk that the infighting among the TDP leaders, Buddha Venkanna, Nagul Meera, Bonda Uma and Kesineni Nani, ahead of the elections, had an adverse impact on the party’s results.

During electioneering, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu claimed that their party would certainly be supported by urbanites as several development works were taken up by the party in urban areas under his rule. However, even this claim went for a toss in the election results.

In Visakhapatnam Corporation, the employees of Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) have been on the warpath since the Centre revealed its plans to privatise the PSU. The agitation against VSP privatisation drew support from several quarters and is still underway.

A few days ago, there was news that YCP president and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was hand in glove with the Centre regarding VSP privatisation but even this talk failed to dent the YCP’s vote bank and the Vizag civic body also went into its kitty. The YCP won 55 divisions, TDP 30, Jana Sena 4 while others won from 6 divisions.

Needless to say, winning the Vizag municipal corporation has become a prestigious issue for the YCP in view of Jagan’s plans to establish the executive capital in the Port City.

Three-capital proposal

Time and again, the TDP had been iterating that Naidu helped in rebuilding Vizag after Cyclone Hudhud. In addition, the TDP said Vizagites were against shifting of the capital to the city while the YCP had claimed that people in Vizag were very happy with the idea of three capitals and ready to provide the cooperation needed to elevate the city as the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Once the results were declared, the YCP leaders pooh-poohed the farmers protest in the capital region and said it was being stage managed by the TDP only to avoid shifting of the capital to Vizag. Considering the civic polls as a referendum for the three-capital proposal, the YCP leaders proclaimed that people were in favour of multiple capitals for the state.

Political analysts said it was hard to understand the preferences of the electorate in Andhra given the sweeping victory of YCP despite agitations across the state. Can the poll results be construed as people’s consent to privatisation of VSP and green signal to the three-capital proposal?