With many political analysts predicting a “Jagan wave”, the party cadre has stopped spending money on campaigning for polls, scheduled next week. With YSR Congress Party leaders refusing to shell out money in the last few days, their followers are worried that it might put them on the backburner in people’s memory, which ultimately would affect their poll prospects at such a peak moment.
In 2014 elections, the party lost 46 seats with a narrow margin due to faulty poll management and overconfidence. Last time, a majority of the YSR Congress candidates lost a margin of less than 10,000 votes. The party lost 9 seats by less than 3,000-vote majority, 13 seats by fewer than 6,000 votes, 15 seats by a margin of less than 8,000 votes and seven by less than 10,000 votes.
Party sources said that all this occurred due to the “take-it-easy” attitude adopted by the party men in the final days of the campaigning. A few party men are worried that the same might recur again, if the party leaders hesitate to spend money even when their party chief tried to brighten their future by undertaking a long padayatra for thousands of kilometres.
Considering the previous experience, the party candidates had decided to spend money on par with the TD candidates, to prevent rout, but with the “Jagan wave” gaining ground, they are stepping back.
A YSRC leader said that the TDP candidates were targeting small and medium-sized social groups comprising 5-30 people for support. He said that surveys conducted by some party men revealed that the party was in a strong position compared to the Telugu Desam, in the state. “There is ‘Jagan wave’ in 6-7 Assembly constituencies and we hope to register victory from these places,” he added.
