Slowly and steadily, Vijayawada has regained its lost ‘political power’

VIJAYAWADA: With the shifting of YSR Congress’ headquarters from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, the city has regained its lost ‘political power’. Now, all the political parties operating in the state are headquartered in the city.
It is after a long time that political parties are focusing once again on the Vijayawada region. During the 1980s, the city lost its political prominence as many senior leaders moved to Hyderabad.Even the Left parties shifted their state head offices to Hyderabad at the time. Nearly four decades later, the political parties have returned to the city, bringing back the political power the city once enjoyed.
The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was the first to shift its state office from Hyderabad to Vijayawada region (Guntur). It also shifted its national office from Hyderabad, leaving only the Telangana TDP unit at NTR Bhavan in the common capital city.
The Congress, which initially operated from Indira Bhavan (part of Gandhi Bhavan) in Hyderabad, later relocated to Andhra Ratna Bhavan in Vijayawada. The CPI and the CPM too followed suit.
The Jana Sena, launched by actor Pawan Kalyan, opened its AP headquarters in Vijayawada a few months ago. Only the YSRC had been operating from Hyderabad. With chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu mounting his attack on YSRC president Jaganmohan Reddy for “staying away” from upcoming capital city of Amaravati, the party too has now set up its office at Tadepalli in the city’s outskirts. Jagan formally shifted his base to the new place on Wednesday.
Old timers recall that Vijayawada had played a key role in Jai Andhra movement in the early 1970s and separate Andhra state movement in the early 1950s. The city was also a hub of all major agitations, including the one for the steel plant at Visakhapatnam. Vijayawada was also in the forefront during the united AP movement from 2012 to 2014. The city hosted the first-ever national convention of non-Congress opposition parties leading to the formation of National Front in the late 1980s.
The city, which lost its political prominence post 1990, is finally regaining it now. YSRC is the last of the political parties to relocate to Vijayawada.