Surviving in politics without perks of office

The resignation of V Vijayasai Reddy, the national general secretary of the YSR Congress Party, from the Rajya Sabha suggests a looming crisis in that party. Vijayasai Reddy, considered a confidant of party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, and his father and former chief minister (CM) of undivided Andhra Pradesh, late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, has also announced that he is quitting politics. Interestingly, he was recently summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in the Kakinada seaport issue. A SIT instituted by the Chandrababu Naidu government has accused YSRCP leaders of forcing the owners of Kakinada Seaports, a private firm, to sell their stakes in to favour Jagan Mohan Reddy, when the latter was the Andhra Pradesh CM.

Increasingly, parties that lose office or fail to win power are finding it difficult to retain leaders and legislators. The weaponisation of investigating agencies, including at the state level, to trap Opposition legislators in corruption cases may be one reason. But there are others too. The fact is many politicians find it difficult to operate in public life without the perks of power. Access to funds and the ability to extend patronage is central to the political economy of power, especially when political outfits lack a larger purpose of public good or ideology. Regional parties, mostly reduced to family-run operations, are worst hit by this transactional nature of electoral democracy. A cadre is increasingly bound to a party, and a legislator to his party through his loyalty to a leader or the perks of office rather than allegiance to any larger agenda or ideology. The YSRCP’s glue is loyalty to Jagan Mohan Reddy; its rival Telugu Desam was originally built around Telugu pride, which, perhaps, allowed the party to survive even out of power. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is facing a challenge to his father’s legacy from his own sister, who also now heads the state unit of the Congress, the party of YSR, will need to reimagine his party’s agenda and outlook to keep it intact in the coming days.

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