Andhra Pradesh Elections 2009

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Nehru, and Congress president, was then challenged by the majority of the party leadership. The conflict led to a split, and Indira launched a separate INC. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress. The official party became known as Indian National Congress (Organisation) led by Kamaraj. It was informally called the Old Congress. As Indira Priyadarshini had control over the state machinery, her faction was recognized as the "real" INC by the Election Commission of India, although her organization was the break-away group.

Gradually, Indira Gandhi grew more and more authoritarian. Following allegations of widespread rigging in the general elections, a court overturned Indira Gandhi's victory in the Parliamentary constituency. Facing growing opposition she proclaimed a state of National Emergency in 1975, curtailed the powers of the courts, and unleashed a police state.

After she lifted the emergency in 1977, more Congress factions were formed, the one remaining loyal to Indira Gandhi being popularly known as Congress(I) with an 'I' for Indira. The Congress (I) was routed in the general elections by the Janata Party, but the coalition government fell apart in two years. The Congress party returned to power in the ensuing 1980 elections. In 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards..

Rajiv Gandhi

After Indira, her son Rajiv Gandhi, took over as Congress leader and led the party to victory with a large majority in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. It governed from 1984-9 and then was defeated in the 1989 general election. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated by the LTTE during the course of the election campaign in 1991. Following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, P.V. Narasimha Rao succeeded him as Congress leader and became prime minister.

PV NARASIMHA RAO

The 1990s was a period of prolonged crisis for the Congress. After gradually losing political influence the party asked the Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia, to accept the position of Congress President. She refused at the time, and the Congress stuck with Narasimha Rao. Rao dramatically changed the party's traditionally socialist policies and introduced major economic reforms and liberalization, with the help of then Finance minister (and future Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh. Nonetheless, his involvement in the bribery of members of parliament(first found guilty in 2000 and on appeal was cleared of charges in 2002) was a major issue which led to the downfall of the Congress in 1996, and subsequently his fall out with other leaders in his own party and eventual exit from politics[?]. For all its follies, this Congress government is significant, in the sense, it provided a stable central government that brought back the economy on track.

Former treasurer Sitaram Kesri took over the reins of the party and oversaw the Congress support to the United Front governments that ran from 1996 - 1998. During his tenure, several key leaders broke away from the party, and serious infighting broke out among those left. In 1998, Sonia Gandhi finally accepted the post of Congress President, in a move that may have saved the party from extinction.

After her election as party leader, a section of the party, which objected to the choice, broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. The use of "Congress (I)" continues to denote the party run by Indira Gandhi's successors. There have been repeated attempts by the Indian nationalist groups (such as the BJP) to discredit Sonia Gandhi's leadership on the basis of her foreign origin - she is Italian-born.

Although the Congress expedited the downfall of the NDA government in 1999 by promising an alternative, Ms. Gandhi's decision was followed by fresh elections and the Congress party's worst-ever tally in the lower house. The party spent the interval period forging alliances and overseeing changes in the state and central organizations to revive the party. It has had many electoral successes which led up to the formation of a Congress-led government in 2004.

About Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee

The panorama in India with respect to both the economic and human resource development during the 1950's was itself in such a sorry state that it provides ample insight into the kind of scenario existing in an infant state formed in 1956 with the uniting of areas from the states of Madras and Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh. At that time in the Telangana region, though irrigation facilities were made available, the economic and social developments were very low not only when compared to the other states in the country but also with regard to the other parts in the state itself.

In 1956, A.P. was lagging behind in all the national averages with respect to parameters like the per capita income, the economic growth, human development, and the availability of electricity in villages, etc. The successive Congress governments have employed a large idle work force of the state besides increasing the state's revenue in many respects, thanks to their major economic policies. In the first three decades, Congress implemented many large irrigation projects like Tungabhadra, Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam, Sriramsagar, Jurala, reconstruction of Godavari Barriage, Upper Sileru, Lower Sileru, Balimela, besides many other medium and minor irrigation projects. From less than 100 MW capacity in 1956, by 1990s, the power generation capacity was taken to 6000 MW, considerable part of which is being used by agriculture in upland areas, thereby bringing vast tracts of land into irrigation. With the above initiatives and by taking up agricultural extension work actively, the State could improve the productivity of rice from 917 Kgs., per ha in 1956 to 2812 Kgs., per ha by 1995, thereby improving farm viability levels. The successive Congress governments have also brought in many large Public Sector Units like BHEL, HMT, HAL, IDPL, HCL, ECIL, BHPV, MIDHANI, BDL, Vizag Steel Project, Ordinance Factory, NFE, BEL and many more such projects and these projects, together with their ancillaries, have provided employment to lakhs of work force in the State, even while generating revenues to the State Government.

During the first three decades, many prestigious R & D laboratories like CCMB, DRDL, DLRL, DMRL, NIN, NRSA, NGRI, IICT, Sriharikota Satellite Launching Pad and ICRISAT were set up in AP and this has positively helped AP to emerge as one of the important knowledge hubs in the country. Credit should be given to successive Congress Governments for having, as a matter of deliberate strategy, promoted local industrial entrepreneurial base, as a result of which by early 1990s, we have emerged as the bulk drug and pharma capital of India, besides having the distinction of emerging as one of the largest manufacturers of cement in the country. Andhra Pradesh has also become the poultry capital of India . Andhra Pradesh has been among the first States in the country to have taken up social empowerment of BCs, way back in early 1970s, although there was no such Constitutional obligation, by providing reservations for BCs in education, employment and local bodies.

A BC Finance Corporation was setup for extending financial support to the youth among the BCs. The state has also promoted SC/ST Finance Corporation and LIDCAP, exclusively to help the SCs and STs. Even in respect of Minorities, a separate Finance Corporation was set up during the Congress regime. The alleviation of the plight of Lambadas was possible, following the decision of the then Congress government to include them in Scheduled Tribes. Thanks to all the above initiatives, despite the initial handicaps and disadvantages, AP has caught up with other major States in terms of economic and social indicators and in the period 1980-90, AP's economic growth rate was indeed higher than the national average. In terms of human development index, AP stood at 9th rank. During the period 1975-85, the growth in demand for HT connections grew at 12.5% pa, indicating a very high level of industrial investment and growth. Due to prudent financial management, the revenue expenditure was always under control, so much so that during 1978-83, there was no revenue deficit at all and for the period 1990-95, the revenue deficit was hardly 2.64% of the revenue receipts, despite the fact that the average annual revenue receipts for that period were as low as Rs.7, 146 crores. The asset-liability ratio was 1.01:1 in 1995.