Post-poll Comments of an INC Lok Sabha Candidate from Andhra

I think it is necessary for me to write something, at least, on this blog, about the recent Lok Sabha elections.

After all, I was an INC candidate, and this is my political blog….

Other than social media, my only posts connected to the campaign have been on my poetry blog, where it is not incumbent on one to be either comprehensive, or issue-based, or analytical, or even earthly, even in the avatar of candidate-in-real-life. Not that this article here promises to be any of these things.

For a politician to put out a write-all sheaf on her blog would amount to giving whatever is left of the game away.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a flag-bearer for transparency, and for the rooting out (or, in any event, the phasing out) of corruption in all fields of activity.

And to that end, one is happy to report that one successfully played the role of a serious Lok Sabha candidate representing a recognized major national party without exceeding the spending-limit that the Election Commission of India allows.

In fact, one was way below the level of allowed expenditure, which, according to me, is a good thing. (In retrospect, I could have allocated the received funds a bit differently, but I suppose those are the learnings one takes away from the exercise).

One insisted that the only money that would be received and spent should be accounted-for “white money”. This priority, one valiantly held on to, against logistical and strategic odds and pressures.

For those lamenting that politics can only be played by scoundrels and crooks, one hopes that one’s valiant attempt to prove otherwise has had some effect. 

Andhra Pradesh is a state that is usually associated with unimaginably high figures for poll expenditure. 

Call it naive, call it unwise, as far as I’m concerned, a beginning has been made, an example has been set. By the Indian National Congress Party, no less.

My electoral defeat had less to do with the candidate’s budget during the campaign period, and more to do with the timing of events. (Pertaining to the electoral process which involved simultaneous elections for the state and centre; timing of funds; constituency-specific factor/s such as key last-minute defections by people like my father, Kishore Deo, who joined the TDP and also lost; and the electioneering priorities of my own INC assembly candidates).

While this was a Lok Sabha election, Andhra Pradesh also had simultaneous State Assembly elections.

As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, I would attribute the new Chief Miniter, Jagan’s, landslide victory to the following factors:

Mega spending by Jagan’s YSRCP party on publicity and visibility in the run-up to the elections;

Nostalgia for the good work done by us at the INC when Jagan’s father, YSR, who passed away in a helicopter crash while in office (as an INC chief minister after which Jagan, a comparatively new entrant into politics at that time, formed his own party when the INC did not pass on the baton of chief ministership to him, the son);

Anti-incumbency against the ruling TDP government in the state of Andhra;

No appetite at all, among the citizenry in AP, for either Modi, or national politics, except for wanting New Delhi to accord Andhra Pradesh Special Status after the state-division that took place towards the end of the UPA 2 government’s tenure.

For the INC to make a come-back in the state, the best bet would be to: be a vigilant opposition, and to do this systematically at various fora; to not impose leaders from above, but to support causes.

I am personally not interested at all in entering state politics. That will not change.

In fact, if one were to look back at one’s political work since one formally joined the INC in 1998, I think my ‘popularity’ was on an ascent till 2009. One way to have given meaning and consolidation to that energy that had been painstakingly generated over a decade, and which was a part of the success story of the UPA 1 and UPA 2, would have been to opt for state-level politics.

The kind of support that one had for some time also came from the fact that people probably hoped that I would stand for assembly elections and retreat to Andhra since my father was intent on remaining in Delhi, and, I suppose, on trying his luck with being made a cabinet minister (which did happen towards the end of the UPA 2 tenure, and which, to me, was a priority from the point of view of ensuring the proper treatment of the Forest Rights Act that we had worked to bring about, amongst a slew of other legislation that returned us to power in 2009…though, frankly, the relevant ministries and consultants and others rarely heeded some of my advice in the run-up to 2014).

For the things that the INC stands for since its inception, it is still unparalleled.

Since the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy, is originally from the INC, it is hoped that the overall approach to policy and legislation will draw from the Congress ethos.

Specifically on aspects of local government, and how schemes are implemented at the state level, and how key decisions are made by Gram Sabhas, it is hoped that the YSRCP will distinguish itself from the tactics of the TDP which relies more on delegated democracy, rather than consultative democracy. (One of the examples I use, as an expert, to make this point, is the arbitrary basis on which the TDP had introduced the concept of Joint Forest Management, and how we had to unravel the knottiness of the past to eventually bring about the Forest Rights Act).

For many years, my grouse against the YSRCP was that they supported bauxite mining in the eastern ghaats, but that changed during the campaign, when Jagan visited the constituency and announced his opposition to bauxite mining in Araku. We will have to watch that space, and ensure he keeps to his word on that count.

One area in which I hope to steer my party’s policies away from some of it’s past work is in the Power Sector. I oppose the generation and use of civil nuclear energy, and strongly opposed plans to set up a nuclear power plant at Kuvvada in Srikakulam District, northern Andhra Pradesh. I think, over time, plans to put up a nuclear plant in the area have been done away with.

I hope the YSRCP government makes rapid moves away from civil nuclear energy, and towards offshore wind and solar energy for the grids while strategizing how to phase out fossil fuels over time.

Five Deputy Chief Ministers have been appointed. An unprecedented measure. One of them is the local MLA from my area, and has been made the minister for Tribal Affairs.

While our party, the INC, continues a time-taking effort to cleanse Indian Politics, my pro bono advisory legal work, at this point of time, would be to attempt to ensure that appropriate affidavits are filed before the Supreme Court, and appearances made by the relevant states and parties, to defend the Forest Rights Act which is currently under challenge.

As far as the conducting of the elections and the use of the EVMs is concerned, it is, indeed, worrisome to know that there were 541 EVM replacements in my parliamentary constituency alone.

I also have an assortment of suggestions for the election commission on the logistical front, that I might write about on another occasion, and which, in fact, would form a part of my own election- result-analysis.

My personal, determined fight, supported, this time, by my party, was on the Gender Justice front.

More on National Politics in my next post!