Seven years after the state suffered the fork, the Indian National Congress (INC) now sees this as “not a problem”.
The decision of the party-led UPA regime to restructure Andhra Pradesh into two Telugu states was the decisive factor in both states in 2014.
Although the party’s support base has eroded and part of its middle tier leadership has found refuge in the two regional parties, there are some hardcore leaders who cling to their ideology.
Congressional Working Committee (CWC) member and former union minister Chinta Mohan, who runs as Lok Sabha candidate for Tirupati (SC), is one of those die-hard congressmen eager to stay afloat with the party.
When the other parties were still holding their cards close to their chests and even Congress had not officially nominated him as a candidate, Dr. Mohan into the hinterland of the constituency to bring the party’s ideology to the masses.
He claimed he saw the pulse of voters, particularly in the SC, ST, and BC colonies as well as the tribal hamlets, and exuded confidence in Congress, which was rising again on the horizon.
“After people voted for the ruthless regimes like the BJP in the center and the YSRCP in the state, they are in tears today,” said Dr. Mohan The Hindu on the sidelines of his campaign on Sunday.
Although its projection is difficult to fathom, Dr. Mohan insists that the reality of the ground is far from what is projected.
Regarding the bifurcation, Dr. Mohan, only two out of 100 people he met, had asked him about the division of the state, but the rest were more concerned about the prices of essential goods and petroleum products.
Dr. Mohan tries to bring back memories of the elderly by showing them the party’s brochure with the picture of Indira Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra.
“Voters in the country ask me where the ‘hand’ symbol has gone, as all they have seen lately is the ‘fan’ and the ‘cycle’. “We want to see the helping hand again,” is the obvious message from the voters, “he says.