People anticipate political parties to operate effectively in democracies. The political system is impacted by the organisational setup and management of regional parties.
The process of organizational elections of each political party, from the village level to the state level, should be held in accordance with the guidelines of the Electoral Commission. Today, however, political parties seem to disregard norms and traditions that affect internal democracy.
The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Plenary Session that just ended passed a resolution paving the way for its President and Prime Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, to become President of the party for life by holding organizational elections every two years. Of course, regional parties like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS), and the YSRCP are run by leaders who are preeminent and unchallenged by anyone within the party. They have cult status.
Given the results of the recent YSRCP Plenary Session, the questions surrounding the audience are: where is the need for Jaganmohan Reddy to become party president for life by changing the rules regarding the organization, why he influenced his mother ? and widow of Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy step down as honorary chairman of the party? People point out that only autocratic leaders declare themselves presidents for life. This seems undemocratic at best in a country like India, although Jaganmohan Reddy may dream of ruling Andhra Pradesh for another 30 years. Jagan is known to face multiple criminal cases against him, filed in the CBI and ED courts, for disproportionate assets and money laundering. Now he’s out on bail.
Political circles believe that the Bharatiya Janata party will seek the support of all political parties for the presidential elections on 18 July. YSRCP and Telugu Desam offered their unconditional support to the NDA-backed candidate Draupadi Murmu. After the presidential election, the BJP will review its relations with the various parties to prepare for the general elections of 2024. Jagan himself may not know how long it would remain in the good books of the BJP. There is an opinion that Jagan’s team had tried to downplay YS Vijayalakshmi and YS Sharmila’s contribution to the party when he was sentenced to 16 months in prison. This was done by claiming that there was no ‘hard period’ for the party at all. According to some, this has led to the emotional departure of honorary chairman Vijayalakshmi from the party.
During his first term, TDP founder NT Rama Rao was elected halfway through without opposition to the post of party chairman. He affectionately called his farm-like ashram on the outskirts of Hyderabad “Bhuvana Vijayam” (the name of the royal court of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire that flourished 500 years ago) and often held party rallies, including organizational elections, notably election to the post of president, there. NTR used to make an ‘appeal’. to party men who declared that he would resign if the party could find another capable person for the position of president. Then the entire constituency of TDP gathered there would utter a resounding ‘No’. Sentimental people would cry after hearing such selfless words from their supreme leader.
So the election for president would go smoothly. On one occasion, while such an organizational election for the post of president was taking place, an elder MLA from Kovvur from the PV district came. Krishna Rao to West Godavari and asked for an appointment letter to be presented stating that he was interested in running for party president. 39; s message! Everyone, including NTR, was amazed. But the people in charge of leading the elections for the office of president did not respond to Krishna Rao’s request. He was forced to leave the place. Even during the days of N. Chandrababu Naidu, his clique acted cautiously to avoid such embarrassment.
Even in the case of TRS, the same scene is repeated when organizing elections for the office of president are held. This makes those parties the property of the families of their respective presidents. The party office building, which is worth millions of rupees, is also under the direct control of those presidents. The NTR Trust building (TDP central office) in Banjara Hills of Hyderabad was initially under the NTR trust. It later became an asset of Chandrababu Naidu.
Spread over an acre of land in Banjara Hills, TRS Bhavan is the party headquarters. It is completely under the control of the party leadership. This land was allotted during the regime of Dr. Ys Rajasekhara Reddy and the government found the TRS party to blame for part of the commercial property. In the case of YSRCP’s central office in Amaravati, the same scene can be seen. The newly established headquarters of the Jana Sena Party (JSP) in Amaravati also falls under the same category. In contrast, when it comes to Gandhi Bhavan (PCC Headquarters) and Shyam Prasad Mukherjee Bhavan (BJP Headquarters) in Nampally, Maqdoom Bhavan (Communist Party of India) & Makineni Basavapunniah Bhavan (Communist Party of India – Marxist) in Himayat Nagar and Musheerabad respectively, they are completely controlled by the respective parties with collective responsibility. Presidents of Congress and the BJP and secretaries of left-wing parties have nothing to do with running party offices.
Conducting organizational elections and maintaining party headquarters according to the president’s whims and fantasies reflect a lack of internal democracy. What message do these party leaders give to future generations? #KhabarLive #hyderabadlive #hydnews
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