With just around a year left for the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, various agencies have started taking up pre-election surveys independently and also on behalf of the political parties to predict who is going to emerge victorious in 2024.
Majority of these surveys conducted so far have predicted the return of the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for a second successive term, albeit with a truncated majority.
A latest survey purported to have been commissioned by Kapu Samkshema Sena founder-president and former MP Ch Harirama Jogaiah has come out with an interesting prediction, linking the outcome of the polls to the “bus yatra” of power star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.
According to the reports, if elections are held before the commencement of bus yatra by Pawan Kalyan, the ruling YSRC would return to power by winning 95 assembly seats with a vote share of 47 percent. The TDP will end up with 65 seats with 38 percent vote share and Jana Sena will get 15 seats with 14 percent vote share.
However, Jogaiah predicts things will change dramatically if the elections are held after the completion of Pawan Kalyan’s bus yatra. There will be a hung assembly in the state with no party getting absolute majority to come to power.
While the YSRC will still be the single largest party by winning 80 assembly seats with a vote share of 40 per cent. The TDP will lose its seats to the Jana Sena Party and will win only 55 assembly seats (vote share of 38 percent), whereas the Jana Sena will increase its tally to 40 with a vote share of 20 percent.
So, Jogaiah has predicted that Pawan Kalyan will become a king maker in the event of a hung assembly. He will have to join hands with the TDP to form the government. In such a scenario, whether Pawan will pitch himself as the CM candidate or concede the post to Naidu, is not clear.
