YSRCP: A People’s Movement

Formed due to a historical need, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is now poised to take over the reins of the state in the Assembly elections scheduled for 2019.

The party was formed on March 12, 2011 under exceptional circumstances. After the untimely death of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash, his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy formed the party as a historical need. Since then, the party saw several highs and lows and withstood false allegations and charges by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress party. Despite various attempts by the TDP and its leadership to crush the new party, the YSRCP only emerged stronger and a force to reckon with in state politics under the able leadership of YS Jagan and evolved as a people's movement.

The exceptional leadership of YS Jagan can be gauged by the fact that the traditional rivals - Congress and TDP - have now joined hands in Andhra Pradesh. They knew very well that they cannot face the tide of YS Jagan's popularity among the masses. Hence, the innumerable cases and misleading propaganda against the YSRCP chief by the TDP-Congress combine. Under the guise of baseless allegations, the two parties managed to send YS Jagan to prison for an unprecedented 16 months. But they could not crush a people's movement against injustice - evident from the rousing victory YSRCP got in the by-elections at the time.

Former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy had proved during his tenure (2004-09) the characteristics of an ideal chief minister. The innumerable welfare schemes that the late CM introduced bear testimony to the fact that he was aware of the needs of the people. In this regard Arogya Sri, free electricity to farmers and the fee reimbursement scheme are only a few instances of the popular welfare programmes introduced by YSR. However, following the untimely death of YSR and the subsequent division of the state, the popular schemes were grossly neglected by the Telangana and AP governments. YS Jagan then took it upon himself to save the people-friendly schemes and began questioning the state government for diluting those programmes that brought laurels to the late chief minister.

The groundwork for YS Jagan's resolution, to prevent the people-friendly schemes being watered down by the TDP, was laid in May 2012 when he was imprisoned on baseless charges. After his release from the prison, YS Jagan focused his entire energies in reviving the party and preparing it for elections. He highlighted the failures of the ruling TDP and its dubious methods to water down welfare schemes introduced by YSR. Every electoral promise that was not fulfilled by the TDP was highlighted by YS Jagan in his rallies and public meetings. He even undertook hunger strikes and padayatra to create awareness among the people about the welfare programmes and how it was denied to them by the ruling party. His relentless attack on the TDP, and efforts to sustain the momentum among the masses bore fruit when in 2014 elections the YSRCP won 67 assembly seats and eight Lok Sabha seats. It only missed winning the elections with a slender margin of 1.9 percent of votes polled.

The loss for YSRCP in 2014 was primarily attributed to the false promises and misleading statements by TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu. YS Jagan has been consistently questioning the ruling TDP since then on its electoral promises and its failure to fulfill them. In order to weaken the YSRCP and hide his own failures, Chandrababu had even resorted to "buying" of 21 MLAs. But as evident from the recent district-level plenaries, the YSRCP only emerged stronger and continues to enjoy the support and wishes of the people from the grassroot level.

The party which came into existence as a historical need is now all poised to win the 2019 elections with the active support of the people and re-introduce the welfare programmes initiated by YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Excerpts from a write-up by:
RM Basha (Sakshi Political Bureau) on the occasion of YSRCP’s Third National Plenary in Guntur