Simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh have not only sparked violence but also caused rifts within several political families, with brothers at odds, sons running against their ministerial fathers and wives being persuaded at the last moment to back out of fighting their husbands.
In this family feud, YSRCP leader and outgoing Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy faced a major challenge from his sister and Andhra Pradesh Congress leader YS Sharmila, who entered politics in Telangana with the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) and later led the Congress in Andhra Pradesh after the party merged with the Congress, with the support of her cousin Sunita Naledi, who directly criticised her brother.
Read: Poor infrastructure, debt: How Jagan lost his grip in Andhra Pradesh “Jagan is not at all a successor to YSR (YS Rajasekhar Reddy). There is no similarity between the governments led by YSR and Jagan…Jagan’s rule has been marked by murderous politics,” Sharmila said on April 8 at Midukur in Kadapa district.
As the Congress candidate in the Kadapa assembly constituency, Sharmila faced off against YS Avinash Reddy, her cousin and YSRCP president, an accused in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case. Though Sharmila lost, she managed to inflict electoral damage on Avinash Reddy, who won by 62,695 votes, garnering over 140,000 votes.
Avinash Reddy had the full support of Jagan Mohan Reddy who said the people of Kadapa “know who killed” his uncle Vivekananda Reddy. It has been alleged that a “conspiracy” has been hatched to “destroy” Avinash Reddy’s life and that his sister Sharmila and Nareddy are “part” of it.
Having abandoned Mr Jagan, Mohan Reddy has supported Avinash Reddy while YS Vijayama, wife of Rajasekhar Reddy and mother of his siblings, has supported his daughter Sharmila and urged the Kadapa Assembly constituency to vote for her.
Similarly, in the Vijayawada Assembly constituency, brothers K. Srinivas and K. Shivanath were in the fray. Srinivas, a transport tycoon turned politician from the YSRCP, was up against his younger brother Shivanath from the TDP. Srinivas (58), a key TDP leader until a few months ago, switched to the YSRCP in January after differences with party leaders.
Chandrababu Naidu is likely to revive projects that were “abandoned” by the YSRCP government. In the end, his gamble did not pay off and Srinivas lost the fight to Shivanath, who won by a landslide margin of over 282,000 votes, securing a total of 7,94,154 votes.
In North Andhra, Duvvada Vani, wife of YSRCP’s Tekkali Assembly constituency candidate Duvvada Srinivas, was close to contesting against her husband for several reasons. At the last moment, party leaders persuaded her not to do so.
Similarly, Yangon Metropolitan People’s Party (YSRCP) Anakappally assembly candidate and son of Deputy Chief Minister B Muthyala Naidu, B Ravi Kumar, contested as an independent from Madugula Assembly constituency against his sister-in-law E Anuradha but all three members of his family lost the election.
Another repercussion was that violence broke out in many places, to the point where even ordinary people loyal to the TDP and YSRCP leaders resorted to assaulting each other in many places. Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapur districts became notorious for such attacks.
Authorities have promised protection for YSRCP supporters following alleged attacks by Janasena and TDP cadres, but the violence has not subsided. Andhra Pradesh held elections on May 13 for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats. The NDA alliance of the TDP, BJP and Janasena won with a landslide victory, winning 164 Assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha seats. The YSRCP was relegated to a seemingly insignificant position, winning only 11 Assembly seats and 4 Lok Sabha seats.
(With inputs from PTI)
