Disconnect with public, leadership crisis cost YSRCP dear

YSRCP's disconnect with people led to dismal election results, highlighting leadership crisis and failure to address key issues.

The YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) dismal performance in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections speaks volumes about the party’s disconnect with the people of the State. Going by the way it conducted itself in the past five years, the leadership crisis was quite visible in the party.

The party was limited to 10 Assembly seats (subject to a formal announcement by the Election Commission) in the current elections, a drastic fall compared to its tally of 151 in the 2019 elections.

After coming to power with a thumping majority in 2019, the ruling party, over a period of time, consciously disowned several sections of the society such as government employees, unemployed graduates, industries, forward communities, people not covered under welfare schemes, and small and big businessmen. From the start of its tenure, the party distanced itself from anything that was not part of a welfare agenda. This apart, there was no second-rung leadership apart from the party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, which left the party crippled when it came to having someone with a strong understanding of issues actively interacting with the public.

Interestingly, leaders of the party were aware of this, but did not seem to worry about it.

“We don’t need anyone to connect us with our votebank. Be it employees, NGOs, the media, or anyone for that matter, we don’t care. We have benefited crores of people and our votebank is secured. We will continue to form governments for another 30 years,” said a top political functionary of the YSRCP a couple of years ago, much before there was any indication of the anti-incumbency mood that would sweep the State.

Reflecting on the results, Mr. Jagan, in a press conference on the evening of June 4 (Tuesday), said it was a mystery as to how crores of people did not vote for him despite benefiting from the welfare schemes instituted by his government.

“We benefited 53 lakh mothers, gave pensions to 66 lakh senior citizens, physically challenged people and widows, and 54 lakh farmers. I don’t know where all that affection shown by them had gone,” wondered Mr. Jagan.