Election seasons come and go. However, these days they have become a perennial focus all the time because of social media where every day and every week looks as if the knives are drawn out and chiseled for a fight. The election heat seems to be on for a long time, much before elections and even after elections. It is known that general elections are due for AP and rest of India in 2014 and as has been the norm for nearly 25 years, AP’s assembly polls coincide with nationwide elections too.
Telangana too had a similar schedule but with CM KCR advancing polls in 2018, its schedule is now 6 months prior to general elections and is different from Andhra Pradesh’s schedule. This can be an advantage as one can understand people’s pulse and then make some changes accordingly. Now, the focus is AP elections and whether it will be held on time.
There has been a talk off late that Jagan Mohan Reddy government may advance the polls by six months and therefore, everyone was getting ready for a schedule coinciding with Telangana. It was said that Jagan would prefer this given the hurdles being imposed for three capitals plan as well as the need to counter opposition and their allegations through pro-TDP media and channels. However, this may not be the case as Jagan doesn’t seem too inclined to hold early or snap polls. Recently his meeting with PM Modi and Amit Shah in Delhi triggered such speculations and naturally TDP and Jana Sena got into action and started alliance talks behind the doors.
However, AP government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said that there is no need for any early elections for AP assembly and added that they would be held as per schedule. One major reason or logic would be that holding assembly and Lok Sabha polls together may divert any anti-incumbency in some cases and hence there may be no such need for early elections.
At the same time, TDP and Jana Sena seem to be in no mood to relax and they feel that Jagan might do it with an element of surprise to catch the opposition off guard. Hence, they don’t seem to believe these statements and are getting ready to face polls earlier than scheduled, so that they can fight jointly against YS Jagan.
