The other day, Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said his party’s alliance with Jana Sena Party led by power star Pawan Kalyan was a historic necessity, in order to pull down the draconian rule of the YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
But former Andhra Pradesh chief secretary and presently Bharatiya Janata Party member I Y R Krishna Rao said it was a historic blunder on the part of Pawan Kalyan to forge an alliance with the TDP.
“The alliance between the TDP and Jana Sena Party doesn’t help Pawan Kalyan. It is a big mistake, as Pawan Kalyan has lost a golden opportunity to emerge as an alternative and powerful political force in Andhra Pradesh,” Krishna Rao said.
He said there are enough political space in the state for a third party to emerge as an alternative to the YSRCP and the TDP.
“People are looking for a change as they have seen the regimes of the TDP and the YSRCP. They would have definitely given their mandate to the Jana Sena as a third alternative,” he said.
IYR said if the Jana Sena Party contests the assembly elections on its own, without allying with the TDP, it would lead to a hung assembly in the next elections and Pawan Kalyan would have emerged as a king maker.
“But by forging an alliance with the TDP and agreeing for the latter’s conditions, Pawan Kalyan has lost the opportunity to bargain for a good number of seats. He has brought down his own value by dropping the gun even before the battle and taking part in the TDP programmes like Yuva Galam,” the former chief secretary opined.
IYR said the BJP has been trying to fill up the void of a third political alternative in the state, but it is now not possible due to various reasons.
“There is no proper leadership for the BJP in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
