CEC row: YSRCP at crossroads as Opposition consolidates

Hyderabad: As Opposition parties close ranks over the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) controversy, YSRCP chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has broken from his usual pattern. For the first time in recent memory, he has openly opposed a Central policy.Jagan last week asked the Central government to revisit the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 — a law his party supported when it was passed.He even acknowledged the contrarian stand, while also saying that democracy could only function when people had complete confidence in constitutional institutions such as the Election Commission of India (ECI).Now, the YSRCP is part of neither the BJP-led NDA nor the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A bloc, but has often sided with the Central government. It backed the CAA, NRC, and Article 370 Bills, but opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill.EC-SIR dissent row | Congress to take fight to streets; Mallikarjun Kharge says PM Modi should resign for ‘pressuring’ CECIt also supported the BJP’s Om Birla for Lok Sabha Speaker and, last year, NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan for vice-president. That came even though the NDA includes Jagan’s bitter rivals: the TDP and its founder N Chandrababu Naidu, and the Jana Sena and its chief Pawan Kalyan.However, the CEC row has complicated matters for the YSRCP. A meeting of Opposition parties brought together groups that compete fiercely at the state level.The bloc jointly demanded CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s immediate resignation, a rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and a return to ballot papers in future elections. The YSRCP, however, has not openly demanded Kumar’s removal. The question now is what lies ahead for Jagan, who is fighting the TDP and the Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh while having often supported the NDA at the Centre.All this, amid the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A bloc patronising his sister, Y S Sharmila Reddy, who heads the party in the state and rarely misses a chance to attack her brother.Senior journalist and political analyst Telakapalli Ravi told DH: “His actions may coincidentally support the BJP or the NDA at the Centre, but his party’s core ideology and fundamentals — especially its secular credentials and large minority support base — cannot be ignored.”Ravi pointed out that Jagan also faces CBI and ED cases, which he must handle carefully while out of power and dealing with the Centre. However, he also cannot stay silent on issues such as the SIR and the ECI’s autonomy.“At this point, Jagan has no choice but to keep his options open,” Ravi said. “At the end of the day, any regional party’s ambition is to come to power in the state.”With the next Lok Sabha election about halfway away, Jagan’s next moves — particularly his stand on other Centre-sponsored legislation such as delimitation — will be closely watched.

Source: Deccan Herald