Poor coordination dents YSRC chances in Vizag

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, May 21, 2014: A week after the poll results, YSRC is said to have identified the reasons for its worst performance in Vizag. While the fight was initially neck to neck in the district with the TD, the party could win only three Assembly segments and one Lok Sabha seat.

Party honorary president Y.S. Vijayalakhsmi’s defeat proved to be a huge embarrassment. Lack of coordination among local leaders and strong local leadership that could oversee campaigning and other activities is said to be the main reason behind the party debacle.

While there are so many senior leaders in the TD and the district in charges appointed by  party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, worked tirelessly to ensure party victory, while YSRC lacked a leader who could bring synergy among the cadre, at grassroot level, second rung leaders and the contesting candidates.

Though Konatala Ramakrishna is considered as an active politician from the district, he was confined only to party office activities in Hyderabad and spent hardly any time in Vizag.

His brother Raghu babu who contested from Anakapalle, their strong bastion, lost to a TD candidate. There was no sign of YSRC in Vizag.

Though, Jagan fielded his mother Vijayalakshmi, thinking that her contest will have an impact on all the Assembly segments in the district and also in the neighbouring districts, the strategy boomeranged. All the assembly candidates coming under the Vizag Lok Sabha segment lost with huge margins.

Another senior politician Dadi Veerabhadra Rao, who quit the TD and joined the YSRC, was also not given opportunity to steer the party wing of Vizag. He was busy helping and campaigning for his son Dadi Ratnakar, who contested from Vizag West.

Both city and district conveners of the party — Vamsikrishna Srinivas and Chokkakula Venkat Rao — were busy with their own work. Vamsikrishna Srinivas, who contested from Vizag East, had to face a TD heavyweight in the district VRK Babu, against whom the former lost narrowly during the 2009 polls.

Chokkakula Venkat Rao, who is a political novice, too faced BJP candidate P. Vishukumar Raju, who was riding high on Modi wave. Party North Andhra in charge, Sujay Venkata Krishna Ranga Rao, was also busy in his own constituency, Bobbili, from where he contested and won. Rao, was also otherwise busy with is younger brother RVSKK Ranga Rao’s (Babynayana) contest for Vizianagaram  Lok Sabha.  

It was too late for Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy to appoint former Congress MLA Malla Vijay Prasad as city president in mid-April as the time for campaigning was almost over. “There was utter confusion among the cadres. Local leaders were only seen active when Vijayamma, or Sharmila or Jagan visited,” rued an YSRC leader.