‘Why not 175 seats?’: Hoping for Andhra poll ‘sweep’ amid ‘anti-incumbency’, CM Jagan ups YSRCP game

Andhra Pradesh is set for synchronised elections to the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in about three months.

The YSRCP is also weighing the influence of the principal Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and K Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) in some belts and is undertaking rejigs accordingly.

Among the 27 new YSRCP coordinators and in-charges are four sons and one daughter of the party leaders. Perni Krishnamurthy, son of former minister Perni Venkataramaiah, has been appointed as the coordinator for the Machilipatnam Assembly seat; Bhumana Abhinay Reddy, son of MLA B Karunakar Reddy, for Tirupati, while Noori Fatima, daughter of MLA M Mustafa, has been named for the Guntur East seat.

The new coordinators also include C Mohit Reddy, son of MLA C Bhaskar Reddy, and Pilli Suryaprakash, son of Rajya Sabha MP P Subhash Chandra Bose.

“The new coordinators have been chosen by the CM after several rounds of discussions, and winning chances of sitting MLAs and MPs. We will make more changes as we prepare for elections aiming to win all 175 Assembly seats. The CM has asked all of us to pitch in to make it happen,” Satyanaryana said.

Penukonda MLA Malagundla Sankaranarayana has been appointed as the coordinator for the Anantapur Lok Sabha seat, J Shanta for the Hindupur seat, while Paderu MLA K Bhagya Lakshmi has been named as the Araku Lok Sabha seat coordinator.

The YSRCP leadership has asked Araku MP G Madhavi to contest from the Araku Assembly seat, Rajamahendravaram MP M Bharat from Rajamahendravaram City, and Anantapur MP T Rangaiah to contest from the Kalyandurg Assembly seat.

Satyanarayana said that these changes “ensure proper representation of all sections of society”.

Senior YSRCP leader Y V Subba Reddy said the party was making all attempts to ensure that Jagan’s call for “why not 175?” is realised. “We will do justice to all sections in the ticket distribution and accommodate leaders who work hard for the party,’’ he said.

In the 2019 polls, the YSRCP had bagged 151 Assembly seats and 22 Lok Sabha seats as against the TDP’s 23 and 3, respectively.

The Congress had then drawn a blank in both the polls. However, buoyed by its resounding wins in the Karnataka and Telangana Assembly polls in recent months, the grand old party is now looking to regain its lost ground in Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress’s bid is likely to get a booster as Jagan’s sister and YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) chief Y S Sharmila is set to join the party now.

Banking on “anti-incumbency” being faced by the YSRCP government, state Congress leaders are also tracking the equations between the TDP and the JSP as well as the BJP and the JSP.

Jagan’s revamp move is attributed to his assessment sensing some problems for his party, especially for a section of its incumbent MLAs, on the ground.

On its part, the TDP is also upbeat with its leaders saying that party general secretary N Lokesh Naidu’s statewide “Yuva Galam Yatra” has proved to be “highly successful”.