The election fever is reaching its peak in Andhra Pradesh and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has already prepared his troopers for the election campaign. He is busily announcing MLA and MP candidates, nearly three months before the election, which doesn't happen usually. But he wishes to have no headaches with ticket allotment at the last minute hence the hurry to settle these disputes much in advance.
If we take a look at the political trends over the last month, since the election mood started, it is Jagan Mohan Reddy and his YCP that has dominated the field. The entire talk is about the YCP's MLA/MP announcements and the leaders who are coming in and those who are leaving the Jagan-led party.
The first half of the pre-election saga is dominated by Jagan with all the attention firmly on himself and his party. TDP and JSP have been very muted, if we observe.
However, JSP and TDP won't be silent for too long as the two allied parties are planning to categorically announce their candidates once the Sankranthi season is over. The first list of alliance candidates could be out in the corresponding week after Sankranthi.
Only after the MLA/MP seat allotment process starts will TDP and JSP come back in the news. With Jagan preparing his candidates much in advance of the election, TDP and JSP are also having to announce their candidates in a parallel timeline with YCP.
As things stand, Jagan has dominated the first half by keeping the media and public's attention on his party candidates. The real test for TDP and JSP now will be to wrestle back some of this momentum with their own set of announcements. Thanks to these 'advanced' plans of the leading parties, the election fever which usually starts a month before the election has started three months in advance in AP.
