It was a year of troubles and challenges for both the ruling YSR Congress Party and the opposition Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh in 2023, as they gear up for the big fight in the assembly elections, scheduled to be held in another three months.

The YSRCP led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, which had won 151 out of 175 assembly elections in the state in the 2019 assembly, is facing the biggest challenge of retaining power in the coming elections, as it has witnessed dissensions, revolts and resignations of the disgruntled party leaders in the last few months, apart from the threat of anti-incumbency among the electorate.

Jagan, who had been reigning supreme in Andhra Pradesh with the YSRCP winning all the elections, including by-elections to the two assembly seats and a Lok Sabha seat besides the urban and rural local bodies, with huge margins, received the first major setback in March 2023, when his party lost elections to four seats in the state legislative council.

The TDP won all the three MLC seats elections for which were held in graduates’ constituencies on March 13 – one in north-coastal Andhra covering erstwhile combined Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts and two in Rayalaseema, which had hitherto been considered to be an impregnable fortress for the ruling party.

Besides, the TDP also registered a shocking victory in the elections to the MLC seats held under MLAs’ quota when its candidate Panchumarthi Anuradha won the seat with 23 votes as against the required number of 22 votes, despite the TDP having an effective strength of only 19 MLAs in the 175-member assembly, indicating that four of the YSRCP MLAs crossvoted for her.

The MLC elections signalled the first signs of revolt in the party against Jagan. The four MLAs – Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, Anam Vivekananda Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi – were subsequently suspended from the party and they later joined the TDP.

As the year is coming to a close, the YSRCP began witnessing more and more dissension and revolves, as Jagan began the exercise of selection of candidates for the upcoming polls by proposing to drop many of them and reshuffling the constituencies of other MLAs.

While Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy resigned from the party, another YSRCP MLA Anna Rambabu from Giddalur quit politics and a few more have hinted at quitting the party in protest against denial of the tickets. Another MLC Vamsi Krishna Srinivasa Yadav also quit the party and joined the Jana Sena Party headed by actor Pawan Kalyan.

Yet, Jagan has been putting up a brave front and is confident of coming to power for a second successive term. The YSRCP stepped up its public outreach programmes like Gadapa Gadapaku Prabhutvam, Why Not 175, Why AP needs Jagan, Jagananne Maa Bhavishyathu etc.

Jagan also made his party leaders from weaker sections to take up mass-based Samajika Sadhikara Yatra to explain to the people what kind of initiatives his government had taken for SCs, STs and OBCs.

Despite the financial constraints, the chief minister has been vigorously implementing his welfare schemes, besides enhancing social security pensions, launching new schemes like Jagananna Suraksha, Jaganannaku Chebudam, Adudam Andhra and Spandana programmes to attract the masses.

In an attempt to prove that his government is also development-oriented, Jagan hosted the first-ever Global Investors Summit (GIS) at Visakhapatnam in March, where he signed several MoUs with various industrial groups for various projects, some of which were grounded like ₹4,362 crore Mulapeta Port, ₹4,592 crore Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport and ₹21,844 crore Vizag Tech Park.

Yet, Jagan’s government was not without controversies. He faced criticism for totally neglecting the Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river, which reported breaches to guide bund and also lacked progress in the completion of diaphragm wall which suffered serious damage in 2020 floods.

His government’s attempt to allocate house sites for the poor and construct houses for them in the lands meant for Amaravati capital city evoked massive resistance from the local farmers and got stalled due to legal issues. Similarly, all his attempts to shift the state administration from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam in the name of shifting the camp offices also backfired. The massive destruction of forest cover and construction of an official complex on Rishikonda hills in Visakhapatnam was also caught in legal wrangle.

Year of turbulence for Naidu

For TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, who has been going all out to come back to power, the year 2023 has left a nightmarish experience, though it has ended with a lot of hope.

The year started on a bad note for Naidu with the death of three people at a stampede at his public rally in Guntur on January 1, within three days of eight people succumbing to a similar stampede incident at Kandukuru in Nellore district. The Jagan government quickly used the opportunity to issue a gag order, banning roadshows, public rallies and political processions on roads, including state and national highways.

Within a couple of days, the police launched crackdown on Naidu, stalling his rally at Kuppam, seized his campaign vehicle, snatched the microphones and erected barricades all along the route and even resorted to lathi charge to disperse TDP workers.

Though the Jagan government had to rescind the government order following a high court order, the restrictions on Naidu’s rallies continued in one form or the other. When his son Nara Lokesh embarked on a marathon padyatra from January 27, too, he had to face a lot of restrictions from the police, as well as disturbances from the YSRCP leaders.

Though the Jagan government later withdrew the order following the intervention of the high court, troubles continued to haunt Naidu. His public rallies at Angallu and Punganuru in the first week of August turned violent, leading to the police booking attempt to murder case against him.

Subsequently, the Crime Investigation Department fixed the TDP chief in several cases, such as irregularities in designing Amaravati inner ring road, Amaravati assigned lands scam, AP Fibernet scam, liquor policy scam and sand mining scam till November this year.

The biggest trouble for Naidu came in the form of arrest by the CID police in the alleged ₹371 crore skill development corporation scam during his regime. He was lodged in Rajahmundry central jail for nearly two months, before being released first on medical grounds and later on regular bail in October.

Nevertheless, Naidu managed to cover a lot of lost ground in the last one year through programmes, like organising party’s biennial conclave Mahanadu at Guntur in May, where he announced his mini manifesto, Lokesh’s padayatra and agitations across the state following his arrest, besides road shows in the name of “Badude Badudu” and “Bhavishyathuku Guarantee.”

The biggest takeaway for the TDP in 2023 was the emergence of Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh as a strong and matured political leader. His marathon padayatra in the name of “Yuva Galam” (voice of youth) evoked good response from the people and rejuvenated the otherwise beleaguered party cadre.

Naidu also made a shrewd political move by forging an alliance with Jana Sena Party led by actor Pawan Kalyan, ostensibly to gain the support of Kapus, a politically powerful community in the state. With the year ending, Naidu struck a deal with political strategist Prashant Kishor to see that the TDP will return to power in 2024 assembly elections.