The Congress, relegated to the sidelines in the politics of Andhra Pradesh, finds itself with no option but to go it alone for the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The YSR Congress is in no mood to ally with the grand old party, and an alliance with the ruling Telugu Desam Party is unlikely since it is the Congress's traditional political opponent in the state.
The newly appointed AICC general secretary in charge of the state, Kerala Congress veteran Oommen Chandy had earlier stated that he was going to Andhra Pradesh with an open mind on the issue of possible alliances. It was even speculated that Chandy was given charge of the southern state with the specific assignment of getting Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on board. Chandy was close to Jagan's father, the late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and has good relations with his family.
However, post Chandy's consultations with PCC leaders, after which Congress president Rahul Gandhi also met leaders from Andhra Pradesh, the party recently declared that it will not enter into any alliance and would instead focus on strengthening the party organisation in the state.
“There is no question of Congress party having any alliance with any other party in the state. We have decided that our alliance is only with the people of Andhra Pradesh,” Chandy said after he and Andhra PCC leaders had a meeting with Gandhi recently.
It is learnt that Jagan—who split the Congress after the party high command rejected his demands to be made his father's successor, and formed the YSR Congress—is in no mood to enter into an alliance with his parent party. The reason for this is that Jagan's party wants to keep its options open, and it is being felt that the YSRCP has been warming up to the BJP.
The Congress's calculation is that with the YSR Congress cozying up to the BJP, this would be a good opportunity to reclaim the Congress's traditional voter base comprising scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities and the Reddy community that has shifted to Jagan's party.
It has been decided that the Congress will go on the offensive against the Chandrababu Naidu government over the unfulfilled promise of giving Andhra Pradesh special category status. The line to be adopted is that both the BJP and the TDP have cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh on the issue of the state getting special category status.
The Congress has declared that it will provide the state with special category status if it comes to power.
