The politics has come a long way in India, especially in Andhra Pradesh. Gone are the days when leaders used to be associated with a political party because of their ideologies. And they remained loyal to the party till their life time.
Now, there is no ideological base nor is there any loyalty factor for a political leader to be associated with a political party.
Except in case of the Left parties and to some extent in the Bharatiya Janata Party, political leaders do not have any permanent affinity with any party.
All that matters is party ticket or position. The leaders are ready to join any party which offers them good position or party to contest.
And there is no guarantee that even those who win the elections on behalf of one party will remain with it till the end. If the party does not come to power, they are ready to join the rival party that comes to power.
Take the case of Panyam MLA Gouru Charita and her husband Gouru Venkat Reddy. They had been associated with former chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, who used to treat them as his own family members. After YSR’s death, his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy gave the MLA ticket to Charitha on YSR Congress party ticket and she won it.
But now, with changed political equations, Jagan wants to replace her with another senior leader Rambhupal Reddy. Instead, he offered an MLC seat to her.
If loyalty is the basis for politics, she would have agreed for that. But what she wants is the MLA seat. So, she is not hesitating to join the rival TDP against which she had been fighting all along.
So is the case with leaders like Avanti Srinivas and P Ravindra Babu, who became MPs on the TDP ticket. After realising that they are not going to get the tickets this time, they quickly shifted their loyalties to YSRC.
The bottom line is that what matters in politics is power and position and not loyalty!
