One poll debacle after another led to the Congress’s downfall in Andhra Pradesh. Now, after years of lying dormant, the party is trying to regain a foothold in the State. The cadre say they are finally feeling energised with the leadership motivating them, drawing up plans and being far more active.
The Congress won 33 of the State’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. But by 2019, its slide was rapid: voters in Andhra Pradesh did not elect even a single Congress representative either to the Assembly or Parliament, giving expression to their anger over the “unscientific” bifurcation of the State by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The people felt that State had been left in the lurch without a capital city and adequate assets, income, and infrastructure. Key leaders defected to Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and other parties.
While the Congress’s vote share was 36.55% in the 2009 Assembly elections, it dropped to 11.71% in 2014. In 2019, the party polled merely 1.17% of the total votes, even less than the 1.28% polled under NOTA. Moreover, the failure of the party high command to check internal leadership tussles in the State and deal with disunity further damaged the Congress’s prospects.
