Is YSRCP treading a tough road? Premium
The Hindu
YSRCP struggles to regain relevance after a drastic electoral decline, facing challenges and controversies in Andhra Pradesh politics.
The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), led by its president and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, is celebrating its 15th formation day across the State on Thursday (March 12, 2026). Decimated from holding 151 seats in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to just 11 in the 2024 Assembly elections, the YSRCP now appears to be fighting its way back to relevance as the leading Opposition force. However, the road ahead looks tough and riddled with numerous political potholes.
Following the death of the then Congress Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), Mr. Jagan’s father, in a helicopter crash in September 2009, the young MP sought the Congress high command’s support to make him Chief Minister. The request was declined and Konijeti Rosaiah was appointed Chief Minister.
Mr. Jagan later sought permission to undertake the ‘Odarpu Yatra’ (condolence tour) to meet and console the followers of YSR who had reportedly died or were deeply affected after the former Chief Minister’s demise. However, this too was denied by the party leadership.
An upset Mr. Jagan resigned from the Congress and launched the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party on March 12, 2011. He went ahead with the Odarpu Yatra, which helped him garner significant public support.
His first major political impact came during the 2012 Andhra Pradesh by-elections, in which the YSRCP won 16 of the 25 seats that had fallen vacant after several Congress leaders defected to the new party.
The YSRCP, led by Mr. Jagan, contested the 2014 Assembly elections, a year after Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and Telangana was carved out of the erstwhile State. Though N. Chandrababu Naidu returned to power as Chief Minister riding the NDA wave, the YSRCP emerged as a formidable challenger, winning 67 of the 175 seats in the newly formed residual Andhra Pradesh.
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