By Sagar Satapathy: There is no prize for guessing the Congress’ fortune in the next elections in Seemandhra region. While the party may do well in Telangana region, thanks to its political gamble of bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, it will suffer a complete rout in Seemandhra. To fill up that vacuum, the TDP and YSR Congress have started ‘fast politics’.
Both Naidu and Jagan have slammed the Congress for taking an arbitrary decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh without even bothering to take the consent of the Assembly. Both parties have accused the Congress of ruining the country and destroying peace and harmony in Andhra Pradesh forever.
Naidu’s entry into the battleground, will definitely prevent Jagan Mohan from taking sole credit for anti-Telangana agitation. Both leaders have vowed to work for United Andhra Pradesh. The Congress has been at the receiving end in the state after the resignation of six Union Ministers, five Lok Sabha MPs and many other leaders and cadres. The party knows that it is virtually finished in Seemandra, as no politician can even dare to fight on a Congress ticket if the situation continues like this.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh continues to be on the edge, as violent protests were reported from Vishakhaptnam, Vijaywada, Ongloe and Tirupati. Power supply has been hit in most parts of Andhra Pradesh due to the strike by the employees of power corporations in Seemandhra region. Production at the power plants at Vijayawada, Kadapa and Srisailam have been badly affected, resulting in a crisis for Andhra Pradesh, which requires 5000 MW of power daily.
It would be interesting to see whether the Congress Party will be able to bulldoze the public sentiments in Seemandhra region and suppress the voices of Jagan Mohan and Chandrababu Naidu and go ahead with its decision to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The matter will soon reach the Supreme Court and everyone will be curious to see what stand the apex court takes.