Bharat Jodo Yatra offers hope of revival for Andhra Pradesh Congress

Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra began in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, raising hopes of revival of a party that was wiped out from the state after the 2014 bifurcation.

In a state which formed the backbone of the Union government formed by United Progressive Alliance in 2004 and again in 2009—when it was in power for two consecutive terms—the Congress was reduced to nil in the 175-seat state Assembly, and it didn’t win even one out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the last two general elections.

Facing Andhra Pradesh voters’ fury for UPA’s bifurcation decision—which gave the super growth engine Hyderabad to Telangana—many Congress leaders and cadres have since then scattered into other parties like the Telugu Desam Party, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, or YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Jana Sena Party.

Over the last several years, the Congress could not muster good enough strength to even hold a noticeable protest rally on any public issue.

On Tuesday morning, Rahul Gandhi’s Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir walkathon entered Andhra Pradesh at Halaharvi, near the Karnataka-Andhra border, at a time when the party was gasping for survival in the state.

The Andhra Pradesh leg of the yatra, however, would cover only one Lok Sabha segment—that of Kurnool—in four days and traveling just 100 km. The march will pass through Alur, Adoni, Yemmiganur and Mantralayam areas within the Kurnool constituency, covering one Assembly segment each day.

Analysts, on the other hand, doubt the impact the Congress’s Yatra will have in a state that has shunned the party. While the YSRCP is in absolute power, the opposition TDP and Jana Sena are coming together again to confront Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief Sake Sailajanath, who walked along with Gandhi on Tuesday, on the other hand, and other leaders are upbeat that the march will help them revive the party and reclaim at least some of the lost glory.

“We saw a lot of enthusiasm among the public today. People fed up with the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) at the Centre and YSRCP in the state are looking up to Rahul ji as their correct leader,” APCC working president Thulasi Reddy told DH.

Reddy, who is also the state coordinator for the yatra, said that if elected to power, Gandhi had promised the people to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh, retain Amaravati as the capital, complete Polavaram national project, and fulfil other assurances made during the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation.