Jana Sena Party chief and power star Pawan Kalyan seems to have decided to go in for an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, without waiting for the Bharatiya Janata Party to join them.
This was reportedly discussed at the Jana Sena Party political affairs committee meeting held at the party office in Mangalagiri on Sunday.
The arrest of Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday expedited his decision, sources said.
Apparently, the unusual silence of the BJP national leadership on the arrest of Naidu seems to have upset Pawan Kalyan.
Though some local BJP leaders like state party president Daggubati Purandeshwari and Vishnu Kumar Raju, besides national general secretary Y Satya Kumar and former Union minister Sujana Chowdary condemned Naidu’s arrest, they did so in their individual capacity and not behalf of the party.
It was apparent that the BJP national leadership discreetly extended support to the Jagan government’s decision to arrest and prosecute Chandrababu Naidu.
The recent I-T notices to Naidu also indicated that the BJP national leadership also has chosen to target Naidu.
Under these circumstances, Pawan Kalyan is learnt to have realised that the BJP would not allow the TDP to join the BJP-Jana Sena Party alliance. So, he reportedly decided to ignore the BJP and forge the alliance with the TDP.
It was evident from the way Pawan came strongly in support of Naidu on the latter’s arrest. Within hours of the arrest, he cancelled all his shootings and left for Vijayawada to call on Naidu.
When he was not allowed to fly or travel by road, he even staged a high drama on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway by sleeping on the road. He was later allowed to go to his party office to attend his party meeting the next day.
And the Jana Sena Party chief went hammer and tongs at the Jagan government for arresting Naidu. He said it was his bounden duty to stand by Naidu, who had given him moral support when he, too, was being harassed by the Visakhapatnam police.
“How can I keep quiet when the person, who stood by me when I was in trouble, was sent to jail in a false case? This is my culture and responsibility,” he said, adding that it is time for the people of Andhra Pradesh to wake up and pull down the YSRC government.
On alliances, Pawan reiterated that he would see that the anti-establishment vote is not split.
“My followers may say I have to become the chief minister. But I cannot take risk at this stage, as I have to defeat the mighty enemy at any cost,” he said.
