Heat Wave

IT IS 5PM and the summer sun is high in the sky. Brighter still are the yellow Telugu Desam Party (TDP) flags and posters that flutter all around Godavarru, a village in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district that has emptied out into the streets to welcome Nara Lokesh, the party’s can­didate for Mangalagiri Lok Sabha constituency and its po­litical scion. He holds court in a small clearing under the shade of neem trees, taking charge of everything from crowd control to the tone of the meeting as he delivers a short speech before taking ques­tions and petitions. “You deserve drinking water, underground drainage and CC roads,” he says, promising to focus on these basics, in that order, if elected. At 41, Lokesh, who had been written off as just another heir to have dazedly come of age in India’s political landscape, has transformed into an astute, if disarmingly candid, leader. After TDP’s dismal show in 2019—in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections—when party morale was at an all-time low, Lokesh stepped up to take stock of what went wrong and un­dertook a padayatra across Andhra last year, walking over 3,000km in a massive outreach effort. He now seems at ease among the peo­ple, cracking jokes and looking women in the eye to tell them not to make the mistake of voting for a man who disrespects his own mother and sister. The reference is to incumbent Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has had a public fallout with his moth­erYSVijayammaandsisterYSSharmila. Sharmilabrokeawayfrom the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Con­gress Party (YSRCP) to join Congress as the party’s state president. The national party has fielded her from the Kadapa Lok Sab­ha seat—home ground for the YSR fam­ily. To tackle anti-incumbency, Reddy has re-fielded only eight of his party’s 22 MPs, including his nephew and Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, who is an accused in the murder of their uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy. YSRCP, which announced its candidates for 24 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly constituencies at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on March 16, has also dropped a quarter of all its sitting MLAs.

After being reduced to just 23 seats in the Assembly and three seats in Lok Sabha in 2019, this is TDP’s chance to make a dramatic comeback—or die trying. To increase its chances, TDP has patched up with former partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and joined hands with actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s JanaSena Party (JSP) for the upcoming polls on May 13. Kalyan is contesting from Pitha­puram in Kakinada, one of the coastal districts where his party is said to wield influence over youth and the Kapu community. To oust Jagan, who had come to power on the back of a welfarist manifesto, the tripartite alliance has tried to outdo his promises, announcing free bus travel for women a la Karnataka, three free cooking gas cylinders to every household per year, ₹15,000 to every school-going child per annum, ₹3,000 monthly financial assistance to unemployed youth, ₹20,000 yearly financial assistance to farm­ers, ₹1,500 a month to every woman over 18, and a hike in social security pensions. “TDP has always been welfare-oriented, but we don’t market it like Jagan. The single-most important promise we have made is the creation of 20 lakh jobs, which will double Andhra Pradesh’s economy. Between 2014 and 2019, we doubled the economy and we have to do that again,” says Lokesh, back at his residence in Undavalli by the banks of the Krishna. “It is sad that there is a taboo around welfare in India. Most developed countries are welfare states, but the problem here is that tax-paying citizens are not getting their fair share, be it healthcare or education or in­frastructure. We will bring in industries—they are ready to invest if we come to power because they know we have the mindset to make it happen.” Taking after his father, N Chandrababu Naidu, who is credited with transforming Hyderabad by bringing in global investments as chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, Lokesh, as minister for IT and communications of the residual state, clinched a deal with consumer electronics giant TCL involving a ₹2,200 crore investment in Tirupati over dinner in China, and another with HCL by fighting with the entire state cabinet to offer land at special prices. “Capex is the priority if we are to redeem the state from the debt trap it has fallen into. We have to improve power distribution, access to water and roads,” he says. But first, they have to win. “In seats where we are perceived to be weak, we have shaken things up and fielded fresh faces, including party workers, doctors and other professionals, NRIs and women. Watch out for people like Dr Byreddy Shabari who is our MP candidate in Nandyal, Bhupesh Reddy who is con­testing the Kadapa MP seat, and Madhavi Reddy, our MLA candidate from Kadapa,” says the party general secretary who has been campaigning mainly in his own constituency.

Seventy-four-year-old Chandrababu Naidu, who spent 52 days in prison last year after being arrested for an alleged ₹371 crore AP Skill Development Corporation project scam, has meanwhile been crisscrossing the state and addressing meetings along with Pawan Kalyan and BJP leaders. While TDP, which is contesting 144 Assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha seats, is the leading alliance partner, JSP won only one Assembly seat in 2019 and BJP enjoys less than 1 per cent vote share in the state. JSP is contesting 21 As­sembly and two Lok Sabha seats this time, and BJP 10 Assembly and six Lok Sabha seats. “TDP’s organisational strength along with Pawan anna’s charisma and following among youth, and BJP’s backing for our policies are the hope that the state needs,” says Lokesh. TDP had quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2019 General Election over the lack of finan­cial support for Andhra. This time round, the difference is that key issues like the rebuilding of the capital city in Amaravati and the Polavaram irrigation project were discussed before the parties reached a poll pact, Lokesh says.

“The chemistry between TDP and BJP is working well on the ground. We are very hopeful of winning back seats like Tirupati (MP constituency) that neither party has won in decades,” says Kamineni Srinivas, the BJP contestant from Kaikaluru Assembly constituency in Eluru district. He won the seat in 2014 and served as state health minister until 2018. At 76, Srinivas looks spry as he leaves his home in Varahapatnam and prays briefly at the Nara­simha temple nearby before going out to campaign. Among the richest rural constituencies in the state, Kaikaluru thrives on the shrimp farms that flank the road from Eluru. Kolleru lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes in India, is nearby and in need of rejuve­nation. The aquaculture industry has lately been hit by successive hikes in power tariffs, Srinivas says. Access to drinking water re­mains a problem even though there is a lot of surface water around. “Jagan has put a stop to several schemes we were getting from the government, such as the dulhan scheme which provided assistance for weddings. He said he would continue to give assistance to stu­dents who want to go abroad to study, but in effect no one has got funds under the scheme. Imams are no longer getting paid by the government,” says Mohammad Habib Jani, a 50-year-old tailor, after Srinivas’ convoy leaves his neighbourhood. His son is a civil engi­neer in Mahbubnagar, Telangana, and his daughter, who studies in Kaikaluru, is in her final year of college.

“There are no jobs in Andhra,” says Poojita Rayapati, a 21-year-old student at Ramachandra College of Engineering in Eluru. “There have been no campus placements since Covid. While the government reimburses the college fees (`45,000 annually), most students will end up taking a loan to go to the US after BTech.” A first-time voter, Poojita will vote for TDP because she believes Naidu will generate local jobs. Rayapati’s friend and classmate, Ramyadurga Challagolla, says she will vote for YSRCP out of gratitude for reimbursing her college fees. Her father, a marginal farmer, owns an acre of land in Pedakadimi where he grows maize. “Without government assistance, I could never have hoped to be an engineer,” she says. Like her, the one lakh youth who have found employment in the Gram Secretariats established by the Jagan Reddy government to ensure last-mile delivery of its schemes will likely root for YSRCP. In fact, most of the 2.5 lakh-plus Gram Secretariat volunteers that the government had enlisted for a monthly stipend of ₹5,000 have quit after elections were an­nounced so they could campaign for the party. “After the code of conduct has kicked in, most volunteers have resigned. Secretariats have also been asked to remove our schemes calendar from display so as not to influence voters,” says 28-year-old Chaitanya (last name withheld), a civil engineer at one of the five Gram Secretariats in Kaikaluru. He is also a booth-level officer of a polling station here. “Many of my friends who wanted to stay on in their village got a job at the Gram Secretariat. Others became volunteers,” says Chaitanya, who draws a salary of ₹30,000 a month. One of the proj­ects he is currently supervising is the construction of 3,000-plus houses in the ‘Jagananna Colony’ coming up in Eluru. “Over 2,000 homes are ready. Dozens of families have already moved in,” he says. In Eluru MP constituency, YSRCP has fielded Karumuri Sunil Kumar Yadav against TDP’s Putta Mahesh Yadav. A bridge between the Vijayawada-Guntur region, which is the political heart of the state, and the two Godavari districts, which have traditionally de­cided electoral outcomes, Eluru district includes Nuzvid, known for its rasalu mangoes, and Polavaram (ST).

THE TDP-JSP-BJP combine is hoping to make big gains in the coastal belt, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a joint rally with Naidu in Palnadu in March. “BJP is of no consequence in Andhra. YSRCP will come back to power on the might of its policies. In coastal Andhra, especially Visakhapatnam, where we will build an executive capital after re­turning to power, there is a big section of SC and ST voters who are with us,” says Botsa Satyanarayana, the state education minister and YSRCP MLA from Cheepurupalli in Vizianagaram district. “Besides minorities, Yadavs, Kapus and other sections of society are backing our vision for social justice, and we should have a comfortable lead all across the state.”

“Seventy per cent of voters in my constituency are Muslims, Christians and BCs but I am confident they will vote for develop­ment,” says YS ‘Sujana’ Chowdary, former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member who is contesting the Vijayawada West Assembly seat, arguably among the toughest constituencies for the TDP alliance, on a BJP ticket. The former TDP parliamentary party leader joined BJP after the 2019 polls and is facing his first election although he has been in politics for 14 years. Tonight, he concludes a whirlwind tour of the churches in Vinchipet, Faizer­pet and Markpet, all heavily populated multi-faith neighbour­hoods with low-income residential settlements snaking up the hillsides. At the final meeting of the day, he addresses a gathering of traders with Kesineni Sivanath aka Chinni, TDP’s contestant from Vijayawada parliamentary constituency, and argues that Amaravati will become the engine of growth that they all need. “I am someone who looks for opportunities to create and this constituency in the heart of the city is perfect because there is so much that needs to be done—from sewage to roads, power lines to drinking water,” says Chowdary, back in his car, driving to his residence. In the Vijayawada MP seat, Kesineni Chinni is locked in a keenly watched contest with his brother, Kesineni Srinivas aka Nani, who recently quit TDP to join YSRCP.

“Aspirations and dreams are the most important thing in an election, and people who symbolise them will automatically connect with the masses,” says Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, a doctor and edtech entrepreneur from Tenali who moved to the US over two decades ago. The 47-year-old is TDP’s candidate from Guntur parliamentary constituency. Despite the Jagan wave in 2019, TDP managed to retain the seat, with Galla Jayadev winning by a slender margin. “In Guntur, there is no drinking water and no underground drainage. The Centre sanctioned ₹500 crore for drainage but the state has to put in ₹400 crore, so it is stuck and Shapoorji-Pallonji have abandoned the project. Several bridges have been in the works for years and need to be completed. If we address these issues and revive the Amaravati capital project, the Vijayawada-Guntur region will finally be able to live up to its potential,” says the NRI, who has hit the headlines for being the richest Lok Sabha candidate in the fray with declared assets of ₹5,785 crore. Hailing from a middle-class family, he went to medi­cal school in the US and made his money designing online test preparation resources for medicine and other streams of higher education. His company UWorld is set to launch products for the Indian market next year. “If elected, I will bring six international schools to Guntur, several large hospitals, and a ₹10 crore startup fund. I will also bring in an audited mechanism for other NRIs to contribute to their home town in impactful ways,” he says.

TDP, which has billed itself as the change agent, must neces­sarily demonstrate a will to perform better than it did between 2014 and 2019. “We have learnt from our mistakes. When we come to power, we will focus on the party’s policies and vision for the state, and the government will just be a tool to implement them,” says Nara Lokesh, adding that he will not take a cabinet post. “I want to do party work. In fact, I want everyone to take a break from holding party positions to make way for new people. We need fresh ideas to keep reinventing the party.”

2024 Elections2024: The CountdownAndhra PradeshGeneral election 2024Jagan Mohan ReddyNara Lokeshsister YS SharmilaYS Vijayamma