During the recent assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress Party president and Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy campaigned with the slogan “Why not 175,” indicating his supreme confidence in sweeping the elections.
Though Jagan was aware that achieving this was easier said than done, he gave the slogan to his party leaders and cadre to motivate and inspire them to work hard towards securing a second successive term. It is a different matter that the battle was tough and not one-sided.
On the other hand, the Jana Sena Party, led by actor Pawan Kalyan, had its own limitations. Forget about winning the elections and becoming the chief minister of the state; Pawan Kalyan knew that his party lacked the strength and network to contest the elections on its own.
The party had no candidates to field in all the constituencies. Consequently, he gave up his ambition midway and joined hands with the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Jana Sena, which initially bargained for 24 assembly seats, scaled it down to 21 after the BJP joined the alliance.
Despite its limitations, the Jana Sena Party is claiming that it will win all the 21 seats it contested. At a virtual meeting held with party candidates on Tuesday, Jana Sena Party general secretary K. Naga Babu made this claim.
“We are going to win 21 out of 21 assembly seats that we have contested. That is our feedback from the battlefield. Every candidate is confident of winning. Moreover, the Jana Sena Party played a key role in other constituencies where our alliance partners – TDP and BJP – contested,” he said.
Naga Babu stated that the strategy of Pawan Kalyan, the experience of Chandrababu Naidu, and the support of top BJP leaders had helped the alliance, which is poised to come to power with big numbers.
It would have been more appropriate if the Jana Sena Party had come up with the slogan “Why not 21” before the elections, just as Jagan had done. It would have given a lot of encouragement to the party candidates!
