TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is all set to be sworn in for the fourth time as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh as the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance decimated the YSRCP in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections held simultaneously with the TDP surpassing the majority mark of 88 on its own.
Naidu, who was languishing in jail for 52 days as an accused in the skill development scam case, will also be at the helm of national politics after two decades with the TDP winning 16 LS seats out of the 17 it contested. Out of total 25 LS seats, the YSRCP managed to hold on to four, BJP won 3 and JSP secured two seats.
The Congress under YS Sharmila failed to open an account in this election too. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Andhra Pradesh has given exceptional mandate to NDA. I thank the people of the state for their blessings… We will work for the all round progress of AP and ensure the state prospers in the times to come.”
The Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also spoke to Naidu after the trends became clear and the Congress too reminded that it has promised special status to AP if it comes to power. Naidu is likely to take oath on 9 June.
Turning the elections bipolar, like Tamil Nadu and Kerala the electorate in Andhra Pradesh punished the YSRCP mercilessly restricting it to just 12 Assembly seats from 151 seats (2019) and it may even fail to get recognised as the main Opposition party.
The TDP won 134 of the 144 seats it contested in the Assembly as the electorate was unhappy by the lack of infrastructure and employment opportunities which Naidu had ensured in his past tenures particularly between 1995 and 2004. Jana Sena won all the 21 seats it contested and the BJP won 8.
Most of the YSRCP ministers were trailing right from the beginning of the counting. YSRCP’s finance minister B Rajendranath Reddy lost to TDP’s Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy in Dhone in one of the major upsets.
Incumbent Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy won from his Pulivendula seat but his majority was reduced. Clearly, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s much publicised social engineering and dropping and swapping of candidates to beat anti incumbency did not work.
His excessive reliance on welfare schemes also let him down as did the absence of rule of law. A visibly befuddled YS Jagan Mohan Reddy admitted,“I never thought the people would give such a mandate in the elections despite receiving welfare from the YSRCP government. I don’t know what happened. Still they (the NDA) failed to reduce my 40 per cent vote bank.”
He congratulated the TDP chief and his alliance partners. He submitted his resignation to Governor S Abdul Nazeer.