YSRCP will contest next Assembly polls alone: P.V. Midhun Reddy

NEW DELHI: The ruling Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), which stormed to power in 2019 Assembly elections winning 151 out of 175 seats and restricting incumbent Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to 23, will go alone in the assembly elections to be held next year, a senior party leader said.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Guardian, senior YSRCP leader and Lok Sabha MP P.V. Midhun Reddy said the party will be going alone in the forthcoming elections. ‘’We will fight all 175 seats alone. We are confident of the support and trust that we have from the people of AP,’’ he said.
Reddy said, ‘’Over 87% of the 5 crore + population of Andhra Pradesh is getting benefitted from Jagan government’s various social welfare schemes, in saturation mode, cutting across caste or party lines. We believe that our focus on investing in human capital – specifically women, the poor, youth and farmers has resonated well. Also, our welfare schemes especially for education and healthcare have made the world look up and take notice. All of this clubbed with the fact that the Chief Minister has set the right priorities has led to increased confidence of our people in the YSRCP leadership.’’
When asked will the party have any kind of understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next Assembly elections given the closeness of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the fact that the party has been expanding support to the ruling party at the Centre on various issues, Reddy, who represents Rajampet constituency in the Lower House, said,’’We are a regional party and our focus is on AP alone. With BJP it is issue based support. We supported where it is positive for our state and opposed bills where it is against our state’s
interests.’’
To a question on Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidates winning Graduates’ Constituencies of the Legislative Council, recently, he said, ‘’Basically in the MLC elections we won 18 out of 21 and in those three that we lost, it basically consists of employees and graduates where only 20% are covered under welfare schemes.’’
In March this year, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had pulled off a stunning victory in three crucial elections held for Graduates’ Constituencies of the Legislative Council, namely Rayalaseema (West), Rayalaseema (East), and North Andhra, all politically-sensitive regions.
Even some ruling party MLAs had accused the Chief Minister of running a one-man show. Commenting on this, Reddy said, ‘’Basically people who defected from our party allege such things. We can put it this way that our party is in power because of the hard work, diligence and commitment of our Chief Minister.’’
On Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan trying to forge an alliance of TDP, BJP and his party, the YSRCP leader said, ‘’They have all been together directly or indirectly since 2014 and people are aware of their intentions. It won’t matter much for us in terms of coming back to power in 2024. After all, people of Andhra Pradesh can look through their opportunism. People know very well that both the TDP and JanSena have a myopic goal to somehow come to power. But if there is one leader who puts people’s interest above anything else, it’s CM Jagan. People of AP know that very well, hence the choice for them is quite easy. On one hand is a man who lived up to his word and achieved almost 99% of his previous manifesto promises (Navratanalu), on the other is a man who is desperate to forge an alliance just to stay politically relevant.’’