Andhra Pradesh hit by political fragmentation

Political migration is the flavour of the season in Andhra Pradesh with simultaneous elections to the State Assembly and Lok Sabha barely seven weeks away.

The state, which is set to be divided on June 2, has been witnessing large-scale defections, mainly from the Congress, which is at the receiving end for taking the decision to create a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. The bifurcation of the state has brought about unprecedented transformation in the political dynamics of the state.

Congress lawmakers and prominent leaders from Seemandhra, which would form the residual state after bifurcation, are leaving the party in hordes in search of greener pastures ahead of the elections.

Former Union minister D. Purandeswari was a high profile migrant from Congress. She joined the BJP in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh and is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections from either Visakhapatnam or Vijayawada.

Daughter of Telugu matinee idol and the founder of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) late N.T. Rama Rao, she was inducted into the Manmohan Singh cabinet in 2006. She quit the cabinet and the Congress recently to protest against the bifurcation of the state.

In a further setback to the Congress, two former ministers in the Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinet, T.G. Venkatesh and E. Pratap Reddy have joined the TDP. Both of them belong to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema region. They joined the TDP in the presence of party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad.

Earlier, former Congress minister Galla Aruna Kumari, her industrialist son Galla Jaidev, Congress MLAs Adala Prabhakar Reddy, Sridhar Krishna Reddy, B. Satyananda Rao quit the ruling party and joined the TDP.

The YSR Congress (YSRC) headed by Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, has also emerged as a favoured destination for political migratory birds from Congress.

According to Congress sources, at least 30 legislators are set to switch loyalties as they fear that the Congress would face total rout in Seemandhra region as a fallout of its decision to divide the state. The elected representatives in the region are coming under increasing public pressure to quit their posts.

Sensing the disillusionment and resentment in Congress, TDP chief Naidu, in a surprise development, sought support from former Congress chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and actor Pavan Kalyan.

Pawan Kalyan, a popular Tollywood hero with a massive fan following, is the younger brother of Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi, who himself was a superstar in the Telugu film industry before he took the plunge into politics.

Speculation has been rife for sometime now that Pawan Kalyan would soon be launching a new party, and he is expected to make an announcement after March 15.

Likewise, Kiran Kumar Reddy, who resigned both from the post of the chief minister and Congress following the passage of the Telangana bill in both Houses of Parliament, announced recently that he would be launching a new party to contest the elections scheduled to be held on April 30 and May 7 in the state.

Naidu, seeking their support, wondering how floating new parties would help the Telugu people, instead suggested that Pawan Kalyan and Kiran Reddy join forces with the TDP to ensure a bright future for Telugu-speaking people. “They must strengthen the TDP if they want to do something good for the people,” the opposition leader said.

In the present 294-member AP Assembly, Seemandhra region accounts for 175 seats while Telangana has 119 members. Of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats, Seemandhra and Telangna account for 25 and 17 seats, respectively.

The elections are being held in two phases on April 30 and May 7, covering Telangana and Seemandhra regions respectively.

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