The YSR Congress suffered a massive fall in the 2024 elections, dropping from 151 seats to just eleven. Any political party would normally introspect after such a defeat, but YSR Congress appears unwilling to do so.
Instead, the party has blamed everything from EVM tampering to voters themselves. Rather than addressing ground realities, leaders continue to shift responsibility elsewhere.
Recently, a new narrative has emerged from party leaders like Kethireddy. They claim the party failed to properly publicise its achievements despite implementing several welfare schemes during its five-year rule.
This claim, however, is being widely dismissed as hollow. Between 2019 and 2024, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy gave extraordinary importance to publicity around government schemes.
Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure faced repeated criticism for excessive spending on publicity and self-promotion. Almost every fund release was accompanied by press meets, where he famously said “Button Nokka”, followed by large-scale promotion across print, TV, and digital media.
Major schemes were often marked by huge public meetings. These events featured crowd mobilisation, drone visuals, and extensive media management, turning governance announcements into publicity spectacles.
It has been alleged that Sakshi received ₹500+ crore or more in government advertisements during the five-year term. This further strengthened allegations of biased publicity spending.
Even routine initiatives such as new ration vehicles and ambulances were turned into grand events. Vehicles were brought from districts, flagged off publicly, and promoted using drone footage.
The government reportedly spent ₹660 crore on engraving YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s photo on nearly 77 lakh land survey stones. An additional ₹22 crore was allegedly spent on printing his photographs on land ownership passbooks.
Party colour promotion was also prioritised. On multiple occasions, the High Court reportedly reprimanded the government for painting public buildings in YSR Congress colours.
Around ₹2,000 crore is alleged to have been wasted on painting and repainting government buildings. Even school books and bags were printed with party colours and Jagan’s photographs.
It took Nara Lokesh to remove these elements and restore neutrality in schools. Despite all this, YSR Congress leaders now claim they failed to publicise their achievements.
Many critics believe the real issue was not lack of publicity. Instead, it was excessive promotion of limited work that ultimately led to the party’s electoral defeat.
