How the tables were turned in Andhra Pradesh

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its allies, the JanaSena Party (JSP) of Pawan Kalyan and BJP, are headed for a landslide in Andhra Pradesh, in what is a complete reversal of the 2019 results.

This is quite a turnaround for the TDP-led alliance, which was almost written off months before the elections after its chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest.

Jagan seemed to have lost focus on governance issues in trying to implement his nine welfare schemes, dubbed Navaratnalu (nine gems), which he had promised during his padyatra ahead of the 2019 polls.

In doing so, the CM seems to have overlooked the demands of the large majority of the population, who sought employment, civic infrastructure and development. In its five years in power, the YSRCP government failed to draw any big investments or initiate new projects in the state.

Jagan preferring welfare scheme implementation over governance resulted in massive dissent against local elected representatives of the YSRCP, which was seemingly exploited by the alliance. Naidu and Kalyan addressed dozens of public meetings while assuring people that they would tackle unemployment and the lack of industrial development. Naidu went to the extent of telling people that he wanted welfare plus development for the state.

The alliance also seems to have bridged the Kamma-Kapu divide and consolidate votes of the traditional rivals in its favour.

The non-existence of a capital, 10 years after the state was bifurcated, seems to have played on the minds of the voters.

In a bid to take the credit away from Naidu, who in 2014 had announced Amaravati as truncated Andhra Pradesh’s capital, Jagan floated the three-capital theory but failed to make headway in implementing the proposal.

The attitude of the