As resignations pile up, Chandrababu Naidu says Jagan Mohan govt's days numbered

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Sunday the countdown has begun for the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government in Andhra Pradesh.

The former chief minister along with Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan were participating in Bhogi celebrations in Mandadam in Amaravati, with the two leaders burning "anti-people" orders and policies of the YSRCP government in the Bhogi fire.

TDP and JSP, which have announced an alliance for forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly, came together to celebrate Bhogi, which marks the beginning of the three-day Sankranti festival in Andhra Pradesh.

The celebrations were organised jointly with the slogan 'Telugu jaatiki swarna yugam — Sankranti sankalpam (Sankranti pledge for a golden era for Telugu people)'.

In recent weeks, the YSRCP's decision to drop several sitting MLAs and MPs for the Assembly polls seems to have triggered a spate of resignations. The latest to join the exodus was Machilipatnam MP Balasouri Vallabhaneni, who resigned from the party on Saturday amid indications that he might be dropped, and is now likely to join JSP.

On 10 January, Kurnool MP S. Sanjeev Kumar, also a general surgeon and urologist, resigned both as MP and also from the primary membership of YSRCP. This followed the party’s decision to field sitting MLA and state minister Gummanur Jayaram as the party candidate from the Kurnool Parliamentary constituency. The MP, who remained low-profile throughout his stint, alleged that there is no respect for backward classes in the party, and is likely to join the TDP.

Two MLAs have also quit the ruling party over the denial of tickets. Last week, Rayadurgam MLA Kapu Ramchandra Reddy resigned alleging that the party leadership had betrayed him despite his loyalty to the party.

Alla Ramakrishna Reddy was the first YSRCP MLA to quit the party. The MLA from Mangalagiri has declared his support for Jagan Mohan Reddy's estranged sister Y. S. Sharmila, who recently merged her YSR Telangana Party with the Congress.

A couple of MLCs have also quit YSRCP in the last few days. While MLC and senior leader C. Ramachandraiah joined TDP, fellow MLC Srinivas Varma joined JSP. Earlier, cricketer Ambati Rayudu resigned from YSRCP a mere 10 days after joining it.

The cricketer said he resigned from YSRCP as their ideologies were not aligned, and met Pawan Kalyan on 11 January, claiming that he and Kalyan share the same ideologies and vision, hinting that he may join JSP.

At the Bhogi celebrations, former chief minister Naidu declared that people had suffered the incompetent and destructive rule of YSRCP for five years. “The countdown has started for this government and good days are ahead for the state,” he said.

The TDP chief appealed to people to rise above religion, caste and region to work for next 87 days with the sole aim to liberate Andhra Pradesh from YSRCP, and said despite the hurdles created by police, farmers of Amaravati continued their struggle against the government’s move to shift the state capital.

The TDP leader said Andhra Pradesh can prosper only if Amaravati is developed as the state capital, and claimed that it can become the centre of wealth creation and help provide welfare governance.

Pawan Kalyan described YSRCP as a "disease" which has affected the state and said the time has come to remove it. He said the dreams of Amaravati's farmers, who had given 33,000 acres of land for the development of the state capital, would soon come true.