The Telugu states continue to offer political entertainment in the run-up to their upcoming state elections. Telangana is set for its elections before the end of this year, while Andhra Pradesh is gearing up for polls in June next year.
In Hyderabad, the Telangana state Congress unit became the subject of public ridicule due to the loud and dramatic displays of leaders throwing tantrums when they discovered that their names did not appear in the first list of finalized candidates for the upcoming state elections.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Jagan Reddy continues to provide weekly entertainment with his frequent confrontations with the state’s judiciary and opposition leaders. Additionally, there is news of yet another postponement of his ambitious plan to relocate the state’s capital from its current location in Amaravati (Vijayawada-Guntur region) to Vishakapatnam city.
In Telangana, the Congress party faced embarrassment as some prominent leaders publicly criticized the leadership of the state unit under Revanth Reddy. They even shed tears and delivered emotionally charged speeches upon realizing that they were denied tickets in their preferred constituencies in the initial candidate list. Their grievances highlight the ongoing infighting within the party and center on two main issues:
- Revanth Reddy’s appointment as president of the state unit in June 2021 bypassed several lifelong Congress members and senior leaders. After Telangana’s bifurcation from the larger undivided state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP party shifted its focus primarily to the Andhra region, prompting several TDP leaders from the Telangana region to join the Congress party. Despite joining the Congress party in 2017, Revanth Reddy is still considered an “outsider” and viewed with suspicion by the Congress party’s established members.
- Senior leaders and party loyalists are unhappy that tickets for their constituencies were given to recent newcomers and defectors from the ruling BRS party shortly before this year’s elections.
Some of the disappointed Congress leaders chose to publicly express their views rather dramatically instead of raising their concerns discreetly in closed-door meetings. This public display of dissent follows another significant political development – the resignation of former TPCC chief and backward classes (BC) leader Ponnala Lakshmiah, who left the Congress party last week, citing disrespectful treatment of BC leaders, including senior BC members who had been with the party for over thirty years. Lakshmiah had served as a state minister in previous Congress governments in the larger undivided state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress party in the state appeared to gain momentum since August, particularly after the BJP’s state president and firebrand leader, Bandi Sanjay, was relieved of his state post and given a broader national role. However, with the release of the first list of approved candidates, the Congress party’s internal conflicts have come to the forefront again. This lack of unity and the public display of anti-party sentiments could potentially benefit the incumbent BRS party, which already holds an advantage over other parties in the state and aims for a third consecutive win in Telangana.
On October 16, Andhra Pradesh celebrated the opening of a new branch of the software giant Infosys in Vishakapatnam city. Chief Minister Jagan Reddy, a leader of the YSRCP, inaugurated the new Infosys office. Political analysts viewed Jagan’s involvement in the inauguration as an attempt to portray himself as progressive and tech-savvy in order to attract the attention of Andhra’s youth. These young voters still regard Chandrababu Naidu, from the TDP, as a leader with a forward-looking vision who had incentivized and invited the IT industry to the undivided Andhra Pradesh state over two decades ago.
While Jagan’s inauguration of a new Infosys office in Vishakapatnam may have gained him some political mileage, the excitement was dampened by ongoing uncertainty regarding the official capital city of Andhra. The state has been in the process of building a new capital since its separation from Telangana in 2014.
Following his usual style, Jagan announced through his close aides that his proposal to shift the state’s capital from the planned and already-under-construction Amaravati city in the centrally located Vijayawada-Guntur region to the Eastern coastal city of Vishakapatnam had been postponed once again. In his previous attempt to relocate the capital (after multiple such announcements over the last three years), Jagan had declared that he would move his office in October in time for Dussera. However, his team now claims that the CM plans to move his office and residence in December instead.
Jagan has been announcing his impractical plans for the last three to four years, yet there has been no confirmation of the implementation of his controversial proposal. A significant reason for the continuous postponement of his plan to shift the capital city is the fact that his proposal has been challenged by the general public in both the A.P High Court and the Supreme Court, both of which have not shown keen interest in Jagan’s unusual proposal, which would unnecessarily burden the state’s finances.
Most Andhra residents believe that the primary reasons behind Jagan’s proposal to relocate the state’s new capital are:
- Jagan’s personal vendetta against his chief opponent, Chandrababu Naidu, and the TDP party. The TDP had won the previous elections and had chosen Amaravati as Andhra’s new capital after the state’s division in 2014. Amaravati is centrally located, providing quick access to Andhra’s residents from all corners of the state. It is also near a developed corridor of the state, in the vicinity of both Vijayawada and Guntur cities, which would enable the new capital to establish itself quickly with higher growth opportunities. In contrast, Vishakapatnam is a large port city on the Eastern coast of Andhra, far in the North, requiring lengthy travel for people from the Western and Southern parts of Andhra.
- Vishakapatnam or Vizag was envisioned by the TDP as a hub for the IT industry and related fields while preserving the sensitive ecology of its coastal, Eastern Ghats location. It is widely believed that Jagan Reddy and his top aides have acquired thousands of hectares of land in the Visakhapatnam suburbs. They aim to maximize returns on their investment by building a capital there, despite ecological concerns raised by bodies like the NGT (National Green Tribunal).
While most residents of Andhra agree with Naidu’s rationale for choosing Amaravati as the new capital, Jagan’s personal vendetta against his political rival is pushing him to make irrational decisions about relocating an already planned and under-construction capital to Vizag.
To further complicate matters, Jagan has proposed three different capital cities for the state, one each for the Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive branches of the government, located in three different corners of the state.
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