‘Ippativaraku Oka Lekka, Ippudu Nundi Oka Lekka’

Former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan has been occasionally meeting with his party leaders and activists. In one such meeting today, Jagan assured that he is a changed man now and intends to take care of the party cadre.

Jagan noted that there is indeed the need for the party hierarchy to seriously consider the interests of the root-level cadre and pay adequate attention to the same.

“When it comes to addressing and valuing the cadres, what happened till now is going to be on one level, while what is going to happen will be on another level.” Jagan said. “Ippativaraku oka lekka, ippudu nundi oka lekka” were his exact words in Telugu.

Then came the customary comment from Jagan, where he said he will return to power again, and he will definitely take good care of the cadre this time. He advised his party activists to note down the names of the people trouble them for the next five years so that they can give it all back after he becomes the CM again.

However, the point to be noted is that YSR Congress is nearly 14 years old, and the structural integrity would have formed already. After all these years, Jagan coming out and saying that he is a changed man and promising to take care of the cadres might look abrupt and incoherent, reacted a neutral political analyst who closely assessed Jagan’s operations between 2019-24.

One of the principal complaints against Jagan during his term as the CM was the complete disconnect disconnected with cadres. At a time when even MLAs and MPs were finding it hard to get Jagan’s appointment, it can be understood what was the situation of cadres and root level leaders.

However, the positive thing is that Jagan is promising that he is a changed man now and has a promise to his cadres. But winning their trust again is going to be a huge task in itself.