The YSR Congress, which swept both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, will meet on Saturday to elect YS Jaganmohan Reddy as the leader of the party and he will be sworn in Chief Minister on May 30. Though the Telugu Desam Party was decimated, it got some consolation on Friday, as it managed to win three Lok Sabha seats — Vijayawada, Guntur and Srikakulam — out of the 25 in the State.
At one point late Thursday evening, the situation seemed so bleak for the TDP that it appeared to lose all the 25 Lok Sabha seats to the YSR Congress.
However, its candidate and industrialist Galla Jayadev retained the Guntur LS seat and Kesineni Srinivas won the Vijayawada seat. K Ramamohan Naidu won in Srikakulam. All three were sitting TDP MPs.
Shell-shocked, TDP leaders are unable to say anything on the devastating defeat the party has suffered at the hands of the YSR Congress. But senior TDP leader Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdhary, who got re-elected to the Assembly from Rajahmundry (Rural), had this to say: “We made some mistakes in candidate selection and other matters. Many factors went against us. But more than that, perhaps, people wanted a change and they wanted to give a chance to Jagan.
In politics, as in life, we must always be prepared for the unexpected. We will play the role of a constructive Opposition party.”
About YSR Congress Party
President: Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
Founded:12 March 2011
Headquarters: Vijayawada