A new regional star

Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao
from Hyderabad

YS. Jaganmohan Reddy(Jagan) is the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The day he took the oath of office it was great relief to the people of Andhra Pradesh as they had been waiting for this change of guard for almost a year. It is an equally emotional moment for Jagan as it was his decade-old dream coming true after so much of fight. By dethroning Chandrababu Naidu from the CM's chair, Jagan repeated the act of his father, late YS Rajsekhara Reddy, as Congress party leader and Jagan did that act all by himself.

Chandrababu Naidu From whatever angle one may read the success story of Jagan, it is undoubtedly historic. Jagan’s victory is unprecedented with a 50 per cent vote share and 151 seats in the 175-seat assembly. No other regional party ever survived after failing to capture power in its first attempt after its inception. He also became the youngest Chief Minister of the state. He won the election despite a huge negative campaign run by pro-Chandrababu media. This happened because of the grit Jagan showed and the confidence he exhibited throughout the last 10 years when he was hounded by political opponents and was facing the CBI, ED cases and was in jail for 16 months without bail. It is also historic that the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for the first time is meeting without an MLA from any national party.

As the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan has a huge burden of fulfilling the tall promises he has made. On the eve of taking the oath, he was candid in saying that “he is no more interested in money making but wants to establish himself as the best ever CM of the country”. To achieve that Jagan would have to first erase the already tagged image of ‘corrupt’, 'grabber of lands’, ‘ money launderer’, ‘user of his father’s office’ and also an accused in CBI, ED cases.

He is still labelled as the ‘CM on bail’ by his political opponents and he has to fight it out on the political front.

On his part, Jagan is making very careful and calculated steps to start his innings as CM. His ideas are innovative though people doubt its implementation as are being promised. His reverse bidding, prejudicial scrutiny of bidding and rules attached to that for fair allocation of public works are laudable. But his huge numbers in the assembly itself may become a burden on him. For now he has maintained social group balance wonderfully in the ministry making by designating five members belonging to five weaker social sections as Deputy Chief Ministers.

Jagan seems to be in a hurry to impress the electorate and reset himself as a quick decision-maker without calculating political interest unlike Chandrababu Naidu, who earned the name of procrastinator and a huge calculator of political interest behind every decision.

This empowering arrangement made him a hero in the eyes of those groups which were left out in the earlier Naidu regime. Moreover, Jagan announced that this ministry would be for two and a half years only and promised to take another set of MLAs as ministers after that. How far this appeasement policy will work for his political advantage and to the advantage of the state is to be seen.

Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy greeting Union Home
Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi Apparently, it dawned on Jagan the futility of having friction with the allpowerful Modi government. He promised himself not to repeat the friction-laden policy of Chandrababu Naidu, which harmed the interests of Andhra Pradesh, but maintain cordial relations with Delhi for the benefit of the state. He is backed by powerful former bureaucrats who with their vast a d m i n i s t r a t i v e experience are guiding him in policy making and trying to establish Jagan as the CM of a different kind whom the people can trust even in 2024 elections.
Jagan, on his own, seems to be in a hurry to impress the electorate and reset himself as a quick decisionmaker without calculating political interest unlike Chandrababu Naidu, who earned the name of procrastinator and a huge calculator of political interest behind every decision. Even before the Cabinet formation Jagan as CM has hiked the pensions to the aged, increased salaries for casual workers, planned to recruit four lakh village volunteers to facilitate smooth delivery of government services. In the first Cabinet meeting, the government of Jagan decided to do away with the contributory pension scheme and also merge the Road Transport Corporation into a governmental organization. He is planning to curb the free flow of liquor in the rural areas as it is harming the health of villagers and also the village economy. The proposed prohibition is going to be a huge loss to the exchequer. No doubt, Jagan has got his priorities right but the only drawback is that he is not yet ready with plans for increasing the income to the revenue-deficient Andhra Pradesh.

The coming one year is a testing time for Jagan as he has to focus both on the administration and the party. The party cadre is hungry for power, each one waiting for a rewarding position for his support to Jagan and are also itching to settle scores with TDP workers who treated them badly during their rule. Already reports are coming about physical attacks on opponents. Unless he curbs that it may not only reflect badly on the law and order situation but also give a chance to badly mauled Naidu to make a comeback.

There is no doubt that despite the negative image of factionalist, grabber of money using his father’s position as painted by the opponents, Jagan is a hugely popular political leader. First, he is the inheritor of his father's legacy. His father had developed a huge fan following through his pro-poor welfare schemes. Though YSR died in 2009, people still hold him high for his focus on health and education programmes catering to all the sections of society.

Jagan promised to carry on that legacy plus his own innovative Navaratna schemes. These ideas are not new but were there even during the 2014 elections. But then Jagan was a loner. No one was ready to have political business with him because of cases against him. Chandrababu Naidu cleverly sailed with the Modi wave with additional support from actor-turned politician Pavan Kalyan.

His initial intentions are good. He has got his priorities right. He is announcing schemes without a break. But where is the money required for the purpose? How is he going to generate money? Chandrababu Naidu, it is believed, knowing his certain defeat, has wilfully created a financial burden on the state so that Jagan fails to administer it.

Even then Chandrababu Naidu could then get only a 2 per cent vote share more than Jagan. More-over, a large section of people at that time believed Chandrababu Naidu’s past administrative experience would help the residuary Andhra Pradesh to move forward from then a revenue-deficient situation and step on the development path.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao invites Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for Kaleshwaram While Chandrababu Naidu preferred to play political games rather than administration and all of them boomeranged making the state of AP to suffer. Chandrababu Naidu unnecessarily encouraged political defections, fostered his not-soefficient son Lokesh on the party and the government and encouraged corruption in development projects. Overall, it was more of hype and less of actual benefits to the state. Finally, his fight with Modi doomed him.

His image of U-turn Naidu got confirmed with his every decision and action.

Jagan took advantage of Chandrababu Naidu’s failures and went into a walkathon across the state spreading the message of change. For almost six months he had been with people. His interaction with a crosssection of society changed Jagan personally and also his image in people’s mind. Ever section of society for whom Chandrababu had made promises since 2104 but could not fulfil choose to move away from the TDP and bet on Jagan.

That Jagan’s party already has a confirmed vote bank of 30 per cent among Christians, Muslims and Reddys is a known fact. When Kapus and Brahmins supported Jagan as they are unhappy for various reasons with Chandrababu, the vote percentage for Jagan soared to 50.

Jagan knew that it was the swing vote of 8 per cent which helped him capture the chair of CM. He has a mission to be in power for at least the next 30 years. It is not that easy to fulfil his dream unless he fulfils the dreams of the people who supported him.

His initial intentions are good. He has got his priorities right. He is announcing schemes without a break. But where is the money required for the purpose? How is he going to generate money? Chandrababu Naidu, it is believed, knowing his certain defeat, has wilfully created a financial burden on the state so that Jagan fails to administer it. Will Jagan and his advisers be really able to tackle the murky state of affairs and put the state on the path of progress and gain the confidence of the people? The only advantage for Jagan is the helpful attitude of the NDA-2 government. Since the Bihar situation in not that conducive to the BJP and it is feeling the heat from Nitish Kumar, the BJP wants to make friendship with Jagan by offering the position of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha to the YSR Congress.

Moreover, Jagan and Modi have the common interest in fixing Chandrababu Naidu politically. How Jagan plays his cards with Modi as Prime Minister in getting a special financial package, how he manages the BJP waiting in the wings to occupy the opposition space in the state and how he gels with NDA-2 will decide how he succeeds in ensuring the progress of Andhra Pradesh at a faster pace.