VIJAYAWADA: Year 2022 was the hottest political period for AP in which Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan took political tongue-lashing to its peak. The three leaders are gearing up for the Big Battle of 2024 by honing their abilities and rallying forces.
YSR Congress president and chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was more successful than Naidu and Pawan in handling the rivals.
Starting the registration services for lands under the YSR Jagananna Saswatha Bhoo Hakku Bhoo Raksha scheme, the chief minister, in Jan2022, launched a new scheme for women called YSR EBC Nestam, giving top priority to welfare. He also increased the age of superannuation for all state government employees to 62 years from 60.
The Jagan government, in Feb2022, faced protests from government employees who held a ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ rally demanding that the government immediately withdraw the ‘dark orders’ vis-a-vis pay revision. In between, industries minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy passed away due to a heart attack. Jagan successfully resolved the employees’ issue by conducting several rounds of talks. He made the brother of Goutham Reddy an MLA.
In March 2022, the Jagan government got a big jolt when the AP high court directed it to take forward the development of Amaravati as the capital city and the capital region within six months. After six months, however, the Jagan government got partial relief from the Supreme Court in this case.
April was crucial, when the CM inaugurated 13 new districts, taking the total number of districts to 26 under his ‘decentralization of governance’ concept.
In May, violence erupted in Amalapuram town after protesters set ablaze minister P Viswarup’s house over the renaming of the newly-created Konaseema district as the BR Ambedkar Konaseema district. In June, the CM met Prime Minister Modi ahead of the presidential and vice-presidential elections and announced YSRC party’s support to the BJP nominees.
The YSRC’s two-day party plenary was a big hit in July. Jagan was elected as lifetime president of the YSRC which boomeranged due to issuing of notices from ECI and Jagan refused to accept the lifetime offer.
Jagan had blown a conch for the 2024 elections with the target of winning 175 seats from the plenary. In August, Jagan banned the use of vinyl banners across the state as part of the drive against plastic. In September, the Jagan government moved the Supreme Court against HC’s ruling on capital Amaravati.
October was a turning point to the YSRC’s Three Capitals plan as its Visakha Garjana was a super-hit with thousands of people, including students and women joining the 3.6-km-long rally and meeting.
The CM succeeded in distancing TD and Jana Sena in Prime Minister Modi’s programmes and public meetings held in Visakhapatnam in November but Modi called Pawan Kalyan at his stay and conducted talks, giving sometime.
With the grand success of Visakha Garjana, YSRC in December successfully conducted the Seema Garjana (Roar of Rayalaseema) in Kurnool echoing voice for Three Capitals. The BC Mahasabha was also a big success and the CM gave an ultimatum to 32 MLAs including ministers of losing tickets if their performances failed to improve.
Senior political analysts say the strengths of Jagan largely improved as he turned a game changer in politics. The first and foremost strength of Jagan is his ability to implement the party manifesto against all odds, reformation of government schools and government hospitals through Nadu-Nedu, reshuffling of cabinet as promised, ‘no’ to nepotism or partiality in terms of punishing the convicts and bringing new investments. Hence, 2022 proved good despite several hurdles to CM Jagan heading towards Battle 2024.
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