YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is reportedly planning a complete overhaul of the party to revive its fortunes over the next two years.
After facing a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Telugu Desam Party-led National Democratic Alliance, headed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the assembly elections, Jagan made a desperate attempt to stage a comeback.
He organized protest dharnas, alleging a failure in law and order in the state, and criticized the government for mishandling recent floods.
However, Jagan's efforts did not garner much response from the public, who seem reluctant to question their own judgment in the recent elections.
Even the rank and file of the YSRCP were not ready to adopt a fighting stance within 100 days of losing power.
Top YSRCP leaders, who were influential in the Tadepalli camp office while Jagan was chief minister, have stopped showing up and lost interest in engaging in party activities. In fact, Jagan himself has been spending more time at his Bengaluru residence rather than in Tadepalli.
According to the latest reports, Jagan has decided to focus on restructuring the party organization from the grassroots to the top levels.
He has realized that he lost touch with grassroots workers, who had little access to him during his tenure. Even MLAs found him inaccessible.
An analyst pointed out that the party lacked a proper organizational structure at both the grassroots and the highest levels. There was no political executive or politburo.
The system of regional coordinators backfired, as party members only engaged with these coordinators, who acted like a high command.
Now, Jagan aims to redesign the party organization.
Sources indicate that he plans to eliminate the regional coordinator system and appoint district party presidents, along with mandal and village-level committees.
Additionally, Jagan intends to phase out senior leaders such as Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Y V Subba Reddy, and V Vijay Sai Reddy, who were part of the party’s high command. Only Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy will remain to oversee affiliated organizations.
Jagan also wants to revamp the party’s social media wing and digital media network to intensify attacks on the Naidu government and directly connect with the people.
Jagan himself is planning to tour districts frequently to meet with the public and party cadre directly.
“It will take time for him to rebuild the party. Until then, he has no choice but to lie low and exercise patience to make a comeback,” an analyst said.