Emergence of new CMs will radically alter Andhra politics

New Delhi: The battle for Andhra is a pentagonal fight. With Congress hopes dashed in Telangana, as K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has decided to have no trucks with it, and BJP still a new entrant, the major players are K C Rao, Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has inherited the goodwill and the political fortunes of his father Y S R Rao, and computer geek Chandra Babu Naidu coming out of the wilderness after 10 years. It is a fragmented scenario, awaiting consolidation after the elections.    

The general perception is that TRS will sweep Telangana, paving the way for a Chandrashekhar Rao  chief ministership, while Jagan Mohan Reddy will make the best of Seemandhra’s resentment over bifurcation. Naidu whose stand on Telangana had been wage is not popular in Seemandhra, and is unlikely to be a major power bloc; but his alliance with Narendra Modi might benefit him in gaining some respectability. And BJP might even get a foothold in Andhra politics.

The dilemma of Congress in Seemandhra is that its MPs and MLAs have defected to Jagan Mohan Reddy or Naidu, so much so that it will be difficult to find candidates willing to fight elections. The party has to start from the scratch, and find a leaders who has the charisma to stem the rot, which is a herculean task. The fight for all practical purposes is almost lost, unless a miracle happens.

In Telangana, Rao will sweep the poll taking all the credit for the creation of the new state; Congress might win some leftovers! Leaderless, Congress could bear the brunt.

Seemandhra has 25 Lok Sabha seats and Telangana 17 seats.