The YSR Congress, which launched its ‘Why Not Kuppam?’ campaign after sweeping the 2021 local body elections in a combative Chandrababu Naidu’s turf, is now facing a test of its grassroots strength and encountering challenges in finding candidates for the upcoming polls.
The party’s leaders allege that prospective candidates are being pressured to stay out of the contest, while a series of defections and the absence of strong local leadership have weakened the party’s ability to mobilise its cadre and field nominees across the municipality and other local bodies.
During its tenure in power, the YSRC won 19 of the 25 wards in Kuppam municipality, 62 of the 65 MPTC, all four ZPTC seats and a majority of panchayats in the assembly constituency. The victories prompted the party to launch the ‘Why Not Kuppam?’ campaign to challenge Naidu’s stronghold. However, the 2024 assembly election results poured cold water on such ambitions.
The situation has changed since the formation of the Telugu Desam – led 3-party alliance government. MLC and YSRC Kuppam in-charge KRJ Bharath moved to Hyderabad after the 2024 election results and remained away from the constituency for several months, leaving local leaders and workers uncertain about the party’s direction.
With the state election commission issuing the local body election notification, the YSRC faces the challenge of persuading its leaders and workers to enter the fray. Party sources allege that TD leaders are offering posts and other inducements to prospective candidates, while some have reportedly received threatening calls to prompt them out of the contest.
According to party sources, the immediate challenge is to ensure that YSRC candidates file nominations. Bharath is reportedly telling party leaders that getting nominees into the electoral fray itself would be a significant achievement under the prevailing circumstances.
The YSRC has also suffered a series of defections in Kuppam since losing power in 2024. Former municipal chairman D Sudheer joined the TD in November that year, followed by defections among YSRC councillors. On September 28, YSRC leader Nagoor Valli Bhasha from Chekkunatham panchayat also joined the TD.
The party suffered another setback on Thursday, with Kuppam municipal vice-chairman B Munuswamy and former market committee chairman Vidyasagar Rao joining the TD.
Meanwhile, the Kuppam municipality has expanded from 25 wards to 32. The YSRC is scouting for a strong chairperson candidate, but the number of applications received so far was very low. The TD, on the other hand, claims to have received applications from around 24 aspirants for the post.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
