A scenario similar to that of 2014-2019 may be repeated again in Andhra Pradesh politics. If we time travel to that era, we will find that every Monday and Friday were important days for the state when it came to politics.
Both the then Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu and the then Leader of the Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy were in the news every Monday and Friday respectively.
From 2014 to 2019, Naidu used to visit Polavaram project, the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh, every Monday for the first three years of his tenure to inspect the works being carried out there and take a detailed look at the progress. Given the importance of Polavaram project to the state, he devoted his full attention to the project every Monday. Hence, Somavaram (Monday) has come to be known as “Polavaram” in political jargon.
With Naidu returning to the helm of Andhra Pradesh, the tradition of Somavaram Polavaram has been revived once again. As soon as he took over as the Chief Minister after a landslide victory, Naidu instructed the authorities concerned to make necessary arrangements for him to visit and resume work at the project sites every Monday. He is determined to create history by completing the projects in the coming years.
Meanwhile, YS Jagan used to visit the CBI court every Friday before 2019 and attend weekly hearings of unjust cases. Even when Jagan was busy on his marathon padayatra tours to different constituencies, he used to take off every Friday to attend the CBI court in Hyderabad for deliberations on various cases framed against him. The ruling party had criticised him for facing a large number of charges.
As Jagan is no longer the state’s chief minister, he will again have to appear before the CBI court every Friday. For the past five years, Jagan had sought exemption from appearing in court on the excuse that as he was the state’s chief minister, commuting from Vijayawada to Hyderabad every Friday was difficult and would be a burden on government finances.
With the YSRCP suffering a humiliating defeat in the recent state assembly elections and courts seeking to speed up hearing of a disproportionate number of cases pending across the country, Jagan has no option but to appear before the CBI court every Friday now that he has even lost his position as Leader of the Opposition.
With no support from the central government, he will not get any rest.Moreover, Naidu’s new government is likely to dig up irregularities committed during his tenure and press cases against him.
So, it is going to be another long legal battle for Jagan Mohan Reddy and it remains to be seen how he will come out of the current crisis.
Five years on, Mondays and Fridays will again mean a lot in Andhra Pradesh politics for these reasons.
Tags Chandrababu Jagan