Babu is Back: Landslide for NDA

Vijayawada: The Telugu Desam Party-led NDA alliance stormed back to power in Andhra Pradesh with a landslide victory in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls following counting of votes on Tuesday. Right from the word go, the NDA alliance proved that it was ‘Hello AP....bye bye YCP." It is the biggest victory in the history of the TDP. The three-party combine established a clear lead and continued its winning spree from the beginning. The YSRCP now stands the threat of even losing the status of being a recognized Opposition party in the Assembly.

The YSRCP had won 151 Assembly seats and 23 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 but this time it had to remain content with 11 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats. Almost all the ministers in Jagan’s Cabinet had lost the polls. Not only in the Rayalaseema region, where the YSRCP was considered to be stronghold but also in all the proposed capitals -- Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, the YSRCP suffered a setback.

This election which had seen many twists and turns starting with the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu to the initial hesitation of the BJP to join the TDP-Jana Sena alliance finally succeeded in convincing the people that they would put the state back on track and usher in development.

It may be mentioned here that in this battle which the outgoing Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy called it as the war of Kurukshetra and claimed that he was Arjuna who suffered serious drubbing. On the other hand, TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu declared in the Assembly that he would not enter ‘Kauravas Sabha’ till he wins the elections”.

He said he would come back only when the House turns into ‘Gaurava Sabha’ (Dignified Assembly).

Notwithstanding the extreme heatwave conditions, Naidu at the age of 74 went across the state campaigning for the TDP and alliance candidates. On the other hand, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan also took up equally vigorous campaign and highlighted what they would do if voted to power. The Super Six guarantees they gave were very clear. All the three parties worked with perfect coordination and ensured that transfer of votes to the respective candidates took place. At the same time, Pawan Kalyan had played a key role in bringing the Opposition parties together and preventing a split in anti-incumbency votes.

He had to face for the volley of insults that were heaped on him by the YSRCP at every stage calling him as package star and adopted son and a man who changes wives like used cars. He gave vent to his anger at public meetings saying, “Jagan, if I do not crush you to Patal, my name is not Pawan Kalyan” and he did succeed in his attempts.