Outfoxed

Jagan lost this election not because he was outsmarted or outwitted but because he was outfoxed. It’s quite likely he was also outspent.

Great illusions of Jagan’s ‘illegal’ wealth have done the rounds consistently in the media forged by the fertile minds of the yellow gang quite effectively. Some of  Jagan’s supporters had started to believe in the existence of this fictitious mound of ‘ill gotten’ wealth.

Naidu and his supporters scrambled and grasped at every straw they could find to combat Jagan’s popularity. They hitched on to the Modi bandwagon, despite Naidu having stated not so long ago quite unequivocally that Modi ought to be ‘jailed’ for his role in the Gujarat riots.

Modi perhaps had that statement ringing somewhere in his head when he refused to share the stage with Naidu and grudgingly allowed Pawan Kalyan to stand in Naidu’s stead.

Pawan who? you ask? Well, it appears Pawan Kalyan is some sort of actor and just because he is an actor is supposed to have star appeal that Naidu lacks and thereby was recruited to disrupt Jagan’s star power which rivaled that of a movie star.

In a voter base spanning 175 seats, that the election was ‘won’ by about five lakh votes total is gasp worthy. Naidu whimpered past at best.. Although, you wouldn’t think that with all the jabs Jagan and his party are having to endure from the media and the right. Of course Jagan was outfoxed by the calculations of Naidu’s ‘imported gang of advisors.’

It would seem, based on Eenadu’s version of the state of the new state, that Jagan’s party must have done some truly awful things to lose in the election and therefore it was fair game to pillory him by all and sundry. The cries for Jagan’s blood were especially vociferous by those who called for his ‘capture’ ever since the day their nemesis YSR, was tragically killed.

YSR’s death threw a lifeline to Naidu. He crawled out from under a rock and was propped up by the supporting cast of combined media outlets like Eenadu,  ETV, TV9, etc.

It’s more honorable to have lost on the grounds that Jagan did, by not succumbing to the temptation of a ‘farm loan waiver’ that would drain the coffers of the state of any other development plans, even if Naidu finds a way to fulfill that promise, than win the way Naidu did, by hook and by crook, (there is no ‘or’ here, rest assured the guy used both, hook and crook.) It is clear the Boring One used both strategies, he hooked the voters with false messages and deployed any and all crooked means he could muster.

It is learned that Jagan’s advisors also asked him to say he would waive loans, but Jagan countered saying it would be highly irresponsible to make such reckless promises that would mean robbing Peter to pay Paul, effectively enforcing a Sophie’s Choice on the state in the context of social programs. Naidu’s claims were tantamount to ‘buying’ the election. A ‘loan waiver’ is translatable as free cash and should have caught the eye of an attentive Election Commission one would like to think.

If the opposition, in this hour of their surprise victory can only gloat on their win and think to coat Jagan’s loss with added innuendo of insult, only shows that the yellow gang has been at least consistent in its lack of taste and scruples and is as depraved as was expected.

If YSRCP is hurting and shows it, it means they are only human and are subject to human emotions of disappointment and sadness. It is so much better than the soulless humor the right wingers are inflicting on the vanquished.

For now, the joke may be on YSRCP, which may be hurting for those in its party that lost. What would be tragic is if the joke Naidu played, with all his false promises, ended up being on the electorate.