YSR Congress Party

YSR Congress Party
Abbreviation YSRCP
Leader Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
President Y. S. Vijaya Lakshmi
Chairperson Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
Secretary-General V. Vijayasai Reddy
Rajya Sabha leader V. Vijayasai Reddy
Founder Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
Founded 12 March 2011 (2011-03-12)
Headquarters YSR Congress Party,State Office,D.no 38-8-53A Beside Swagruha Foods, Bandar Road,Vijayawada 520010 India
Ideology Regionalism
Political position Centre-left
Colours Blue  
ECI Status State party [1]
Seats in Rajya Sabha
2 / 245
Seats in Andhra Pradesh
Website
www.ysrcongress.com/en/

YSR Congress Party or Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party[2] (literally means: Youth, Labour and Farmer Congress Party) is a regional political party in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India. Currently, its president is Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (popularly known as YSR) in 2011.[3] Both YSR and Jaganmohan Reddy (called Jagan by his followers) had been members of the Indian National Congress.[4] Jagan was also elected as the national president of the party.[5]

Background

After the death of the then-incumbent Chief Minister Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009,[6] his son Jaganmohan Reddy, the incumbent MP from Kadapa, started an Odarpu Yatra (condolence tour) across Andhra Pradesh, supposedly to console the families of those who had committed suicide or died of shock after the death of his father. This was however not supported by the Congress leadership.[7] Congress President Sonia Gandhi claimed the rising volatile situation in the state regarding the Telangana issue as the main reason for opposing the "Odarpu Yatra". Defying the Congress High Command's order to call off the tour, Jagan went ahead with the first leg of the "Odarpu Yatra" in the West Godavari and Khammam districts from in April 2010.[8]

Meanwhile, Sakshi TV news channel and Sakshi newspaper, had been continuously criticizing the new Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah and the Congress leadership at New Delhi. In a special programme on Sakshi TV to mark the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Congress party, a voice-over made remarks on Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the "current state of affairs" in the State, which invited anger and protests from the Congress loyalists and increased the gap and friction between Jagan and the Congress loyalists.[9] The channel later deleted those remarks in a re-telecast.

Creation of the new party

After accusing the Congress of ill-treating him and creating rifts in his family by luring his uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy (younger brother of YSR) with a state ministerial berth in the aftermath of the death of his father, Jagan and his mother Y. S. Vijaya Lakshmi resigned from the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies respectively and also as members of the Congress in November 2010.[10] They took over the leadership of an existing YSR Congress Party in March 2011, which was founded by Siva Kumar, a Telangana-based advocate and a fan of YSR, in 2009.[3][11] Many Congress leaders loyal to Jagan also quit the Congress and joined the YSR Congress. This resulted in the weakening of the Congress's strength in both the assembly and the Lok Sabha, necessitating by-elections. In the ensuing by-elections, the party won most of the vacated seats with record breaking majorities, with many of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (the main opposition) candidates losing their deposits.[12] The party has a strength of 67 members in the 175-member state assembly and 8 members in the Lok Sabha(out of 25 in AP) as the election results declared on 17 May 2014, simultaneously.[13]

Electoral performance

In March 2012, YSR Congress won the Kovur assembly seat in Nellore district in a by-election.

On 15 June 2012, YSR Congress won the Nellore Lok Sabha seat and 15 of 18 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. YSR Congress leaders P. Subhash Chandra Bose from Ramachandrapuram constituency of East Godavari district and Konda Surekha from Parakala constituency of Warangal district, both ministers in the YSR cabinet, had switched to YSR Congress party but lost their races.[14] The Performance of the party in 2014 is pretty good, however lost the elections to its political rival Telugu Desam Party.

Results

Assembly


Year Election Seats Won Seats Contested
2012 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly By election, 2012 17 19
2014 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2014 67 175
2014 Telangana Legislative Assembly election, 2014 3 92

Lok Sabha

Year Election Seats Won Seats Contested
2012 Indian general election Bypoll, 2012 2 2
2014 Indian general election, 2014 9 38

See also

References

  1. ↑ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Why YSR Congress?". 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 "'YSR Congress' is now Jagan's party - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  4. ↑ Rao, A. Srinivasa "Jaganmohan Reddy acquires YSR Congress Party from worker" ''indiatoday.intoday.in'' 17 February 2011. Indiatoday.intoday.in (2011-02-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  5. ↑ NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : Jagan is national president of YSR Congress Party. The Hindu (2011-02-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  6. ↑ http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3202913
  7. ↑ "Defiant Jagan to go ahead with 'Odarpu' yatra - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  8. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/election09/story.aspx?aid=640242
  9. ↑ With TV attack on Sonia & PM, Jagan signals it’s time to go. Indian Express (2010-11-21). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  10. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/jagan-quits-congress-to-float-ysr-congress_671102.html
  11. ↑ Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Jagan is national president of YSR Congress Party. The Hindu (2011-02-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  12. ↑ "News / National : Jagan quits Congress, Kadapa Lok Sabha seat". The Hindu (2010-11-29). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  13. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/lok-sabha-election-results-2014-andhra-pradesh/
  14. ↑ "Jagan's YSR Congress wins Nellore Lok Sabha, 15 assembly seats". The Times Of India. 15 June 2012.
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