Losing the Battle...

This is continuation to the earlier post on Winning the hard battle...

Here is a reason why other parties lost the elections and are now going to sit in the State Legislative Assembly without any portfolios. The second largest party TDP sitting in the opposition with more than 90 Seats is the only saving grace for N.Chandra Babu Naidu.
There were four major parties which wanted to fight it out blood and soul against the Ruling Congress party;

1. TDP
2. TRS
3. Left
4. PRP

Lok Satta being an exception which I will deal at the end of this post.

TDP: was at an advantage over 2004 elections because of the anti-incumbency factor looming large over a greater section of the society. Factors being

1. SEZ's coming up in agricultural lands
2. Land Mafia rising to the hilt across the state
3. Projects being taken up and not completed - wasting time, energy,money of the exchequer
4. Rising essential commodity prices with no respite of a decline for more than a year.

These were enough to pull the ruling party down. Moreover the recent atrocity against women has risen to uncontrollable levels what with the Acid attacks being seen every other day by estranged "Lovers" on college/school girls.

TDP had lot of these anti-incumbency factors in its kitty and could easily tumble the government had it planned its speeches, Rallies, meetings and debates properly.
The main problem it went into was to bring Film Stars who did not have an iota of information on politicising the situation, polarising the votes based on anti-incumbency factor! The negative factor was the kind of canvassing media it used with just TDP Supremo N.Chandra Babu Naiduat the helm of affairs. Added to this was the fact that he called on his extended family members for support!! this is back lashed and whip lashed by the voters as He was primarily held responsible for the pain and hatred caused during the coup of 1995 elections when he dethroned his own Father - in - Law, Founder of TDP Late Shri.N.T.Rama Rao, and became the Chief Minister of AP. Again shaking hands with the same family members for his political gain was seen as a negative across the state.
Second mistake done was pooling in the most controversial party ever formed in AP - TRS; and Left (CPI & CPI(M)) which is known for nothing except political rhetoric. This mistake of pooling two other parties cost Naidu dear and lost the elections.

Coming to TRS party; the very manifesto is infested; Separate statehood agenda got diluted when KCR broke ties with Congress after 2004; subsequently leading to by-elections. KCR thought its better to join the TDP to beat congress and get Telangana sentiment reel well. But after Mr.Devender Goud left the party and formed another party on account of Naidu deflecting on the issue of Telangana, Wisdom bells rang in KCR's mind and with lot of reluctance and party cadre's resentment joined hands with Grand Alliance or Maha Kutami; To all this was an initiative to get the Ruling party down, but to KCR this was just a gesture to Mr.H.D.Deve Gowda's help during 2004 elections for championing KCR's separate Telangana cause at a Warangal Rally. In the promise that BJP would give Telangana State in 100 days after coming to power KCR felt the heat that the 3rd Front which he was backing up would fail at the national level and his wish to pitch proposal for a separate Telangana would die out, immediately he attended the National Meeting organized by NDA at Ludhiana and joined hands with it much to the criticism of 3rd front leaders. Apart from his mindless and endless dilly dallying of sticking to the guns; the by-elections conducted for his seat and other party cadres on account of his resignation during 2008 saw the real estate boom bust especially in the adjoining districts of Greater Hyderabad - Medak, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda. Anti incumbency was set in not from any external factors but the way KCR jumped sides, controversial statements made and counter reacting to his own statements made voters realize that he is just filling is kitty with the peoples mandate and playing with the T-Factors' emotional polarization. This was the reason for TRS party's dismal performance in the Assembly gaining just 10 seats and giving just 2 insignificant seats to Lok Sabha.

Left is non existant in AP after the then Government lashed out a whip against the People's War Group of Naxalites operating in Andhra Pradesh. The Left both CPI and CPI(M) have very small and insignificant role to play barring the bordering districts of Khammam, Adilabad, (Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam -Agency Areas). Primary factor being the presence of a large number of workers and unions working in the Coal mines of Singereni Colleries Company Ltd(SCCL) , and the tribals living in the agency areas of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam,. Taking into consideration this small portion of vote bank, there is nothing much for the Left to perform in the Andhra Pradesh except delivering political rhetoric.

Now coming to the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) floated by Mega Star Chiranjeevi to polarise the vote bank of his community of Kapus. His only idea was to give social justice to all concerned. But he started believing that, what NTR did during the 1988 Elections will repeat and he will be CM in less than 8 months after announcing his party in August'08. This would have been true because of the Vote bank being divided between the ruling Congress and the Opposition party TDP if Chiranjeevi's party and its cadre stuck to the point and not make a hulla of activities. What PRP did not understand was the people came to see him speak in political rhetoric and shake hands with him and have a glimpse of their matinee idol and not vote for him for his star image- this is true in this elections because the voter was well connected; well informed and was aware of his needs and aspirations. No person would fool a voter and deflect his vote for an image sentiment. Added to this the party cadres right from the beginning had been involved in internal disputes owing to ticket allocation by Mr.Allu Arvind who many believe had sold party tickets for 5 crore each. For addressing a rally or campaigning in a constituency Allu Arvind charged 1 crore each; this was either through cash; FD papers; collateral's or any kind ; At last Allu Arvind lost the parliament seat of Anakapalli constituency- the buck comes back is a classic example here. Senior leaders of other parties including Mr.Hari Rama Jogaiah was of the opinion that playing with peoples mandate would cost Chiranjeevi dear. Senior Party leader Parakala Prabhakar after his resignation told the press at large that Chiranjeevi and his brother -in-law ran a Company and not a party made matters worse. Chiranjeevi too made silly mistakes which at his helm should not have been done, like yelling to the Palakollu public that because his wife belonged to Palakollu he is contesting from there! In reality politics people are more important than Wife's wish or whim; I wonder how could he make such a statement? He lost Palakollu seat and won sympathy votes in Tirupathi. Had it not been Tirupathi he would have seen political oblivion now.

Coming to the last part of this post - Lok Satta Party.Party founder and leader Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan- won a single seat and became MLA for the Kukatpally constituency. This is a entirely different party with fresh ideas and a fire to transform the society into a cultured; free of corruption; developed one. In today's politics without Beer and Biryani the campaigners too are reluctant to shout slogans, Dr.J.P's policies and ideologies did not sync with the poorest of the poor voter, the mass public at large, the illiterate, the manual laborers etc., what they need is not a society free of corruption, society which is developed; society which lives on ethical standards; but they want is 3 square meals a day, job throughout the year, basic education to their children, health benefits from the government and a place to sleep after a hard day's work. All this is possible through infrastructure projects taken up by the government to get them jobs, health schemes where poor and downtrodden are given free medical care; home and basic education for their children.
Now to get something one needs to give too. So contractors will eat public money, but the government should ensure the project gets completed; Medicines will be pilfered which are supposed to reach the poor; but at least a significant portion will reach them; Government servants will fill their ration bags with the rice and dal given by the government to the poor but at least some of the school going children will be fed with afternoon meals; Let people in bureaucracy Eat/Drink/Relish: But also see to it the project gets completed; its end user is happy; Thats all is what is required in today's scenario and Congress has mastered this art.
Dr.J.P's vision is far too ahead of time and that is why he failed to bring in seats for his cadres in the State Assembly, but with strong conviction I will see Kukatpally being developed as a Model Housing Board in the next 5 years to come under his leadership.

Having said so much, I wish to end stating that the three main basic fundamentals need to be fulfilled by any party which comes to power - Roti; Kapada; and Makaan. And Congress has been doing this and will do it too in the coming years is what I believe.