AP Will Back YS Jagan For CM: Survey  

Leader of the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly and YSR Congress party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to be crowned the next chief minister of the state, a survey conducted by the reputed India Today- Axis My India revealed. The survey predicted an inevitable change of guard in AP, because of powerful public mood in favour of the YSRCP and strong resentment against the incumbent TDP government.

When it came to the question of the preferred chief ministerial candidate, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was clearly ahead with 43%, while 38% favoured Chandrababu Naidu. Actor turned politician and founder of Jana Sena came a distant third with 5%.

The survey conducted over five days from September 8-12, covered 10,650 respondents and reveals simmering anger and a powerful anti-incumbency sentiment against TDP. From the results of the survey, it becomes abundantly clear that the TDP will face defeat at the hustings and that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will become the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Nowhere else in the country, the survey shows, including election-bound states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, did the leader of Opposition get more votes than the incumbent chief minister, as was the case with YS Jagan.

An interesting discussion under the title, Political Stock Exchange was aired by the India today channel last night based on the survey. Several key aspects of the upcoming elections came up for scrutiny and discussion during the course of the show conducted by senior journalists Rajdeep Sardesai and Rahul Kanwal. They revealed that, to a pointed question on who is the preferred chief ministerial candidate, 43% of the respondents voted emphatically in favour of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. 36% of the respondents expressed their displeasure at the style of functioning of the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government, while 18% found it to be average.

It is widely known that people are thronging in large numbers to YS Jagan‘s mass contact initiative, Praja Sankalpa Yatra. It is perceived that the electoral battle would be based on a face-off between YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu.

Axis My India representative who took part in the discussion, Pradeep Gupta, stated that while TDP in alliance with the BJP, got 46% of the votes in 2014, YSRCP got 44.35%, in a closely contested election.

BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao observed that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy alone as Leader of the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, got more votes than the incumbent chief minister in the four poll-bound states. In other states, the sitting chief ministers enjoyed more popularity with the people, as compared to the Leaders of Opposition there. Political scientist, Sandeep Shastri, was of the opinion that the anti-incumbency vote against the TDP is likely to favour the YSRCP. He added that in the event of an alliance between the Congress and the TDP, it was unlikely that the current ruling party in Andhra Pradesh would benefit from the tie-up. It is doubtful whether there would be a natural transfer of Congress votes to the TDP, he observed.

When it comes to the national stage 44% favoured Rahul Gandhi as the leader, while 33% back PM Narendra Modi. Panellists were of the opinion that Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh would emerge as a critical point in the election campaign, in the months ahead.

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