Power star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan’s long march in Visakhapatnam to highlight the sand crisis in the state and castigate the YSR Congress party is more or less a good show, considering the number of crowds attending the rally.
But, reports from the field revealed that the show of strength could have been more had the Jana Sena had a strong organisational network and all the leaders pitched in with their resources.
The party leaders did not evince much interest in spending from their pockets to make the show more effective and systematic.
“After the miserable show of Jana Sena in the recent elections, the leaders and cadres have lost their morale. Nobody was willing to take up responsibility of mobilising crowds. Except a few leaders like Thota Chandrasekhar, nobody was forthcoming to spend money,” an onlooker said.
What was more conspicuous was inactive participation of former Central Bureau of India joint director V V Lakshminarayana, who contested as Jana Sena party candidate from Visakhapatnam parliamentary constituency in the recent elections.
Enquiries revealed that Lakshminarayana was not keenly involved in Pawan’s rally nor had he attended any preparatory meeting for the long march.
As a local leader, he was expected to take the initiative and lead the rally from the front. But he behaved more like a bureaucrat than a politician.
No doubt, Lakshminarayana came to the public meeting which was the culmination of the long march. He was there on the dais for some time but did not speak though other Jana Sena leaders got the chance to speak. After an hour or so, Lakshminaryaan left the venue.
Sources said he had some trouble in his hand and was not in a position to take strain.
“Perhaps that could be the reason for his inaction,” a source said.
