Two years to go for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, YSR Congress Party leader and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has laid out a roadmap for his party leaders and MLAs, with a warning that only those with good “scores” can expect tickets in 2024. The party has set a target of 151 seats for itself, out of 175. The party had won 150 seats last time.
At a meeting Wednesday, the MLAs were told they would be graded depending on the success of their door-to-door campaigning, and a mass contact programme beginning May and lasting nine months, in which they must explain to people the implementation of government schemes and development activities taken up by the YSRCP government.
MLAs have to visit at least 10 village / ward secretariats every month, monitor for two days and provide feedback.
The meeting came days after Reddy carried out a mid-term reshuffle of his Cabinet, retaining just half the sitting ministers. While a couple of dropped leaders sulked, the murmurs notably didn’t last long.
Reddy said the target of 151 seats was achievable as the government had fulfilled “95% of its poll promises” and “credited over Rs 1.37 lakh crore through DBT (direct benefit transfer), without any corruption”.
Among the schemes YSRCP leaders have been told to campaign about are the distribution of housing site ownership documents to eligible poor beneficiaries. On Thursday, Reddy toured Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts to distribute 1.32 lakh such documents himself.
A party leader said: “The CM has put everyone in election mode with this meeting. Even the newly appointed ministers only have a short time to prove themselves.”
Reddy also directed that 50% of the booth committees of the party be reserved for women and 50% for SCs, STs, backward classes or minorities in constituencies where their numbers are substantial.
According to party leaders, Reddy said the government was fighting not just the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), its main rival, but also a section of the media.
While it won just 23 MLAs in 2019, the TDP has been aggressive in Opposition and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his son N Lokesh Naidu have stepped up attacks on the YSRCP government over issues like sale of cheap liquor, corruption, Amaravati farmer protests, and law and order situation.
Of the other Opposition parties, the Congress is virtually decimated, while the BJP and Jana Sena are still organising themselves.
