Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu might be eager in forging an alliance with the Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan, because it is the only way his party can expect to win the elections by consolidating the anti-establishment vote.
For Pawan Kalyan, too, having an alliance with the TDP is the only way to establish Jana Sena Party as a force in Andhra politics by winning at least a few seats; he has already given up the hope of becoming the chief minister.
But surveys commissioned by Naidu’s political strategists reportedly revealed an interesting phenomenon which is a matter of concern and worry for Naidu.
According to these surveys, wherever the Jana Sena Party contests in the assembly elections in alliance with the TDP, there will be a complete transfer of the TDP votes to the Jana Sena candidates.
Reason is simple: the TDP cadres want to defeat Jagan and his party in the elections at any cost as it is a question of do-or-die situation for them. So, they would not hesitate to vote for Jana Sena Party candidates wherever they are given tickets as part of seat-sharing understanding with the TDP.
However, the situation is not the same in the constituencies where the TDP candidates would contest. In most of these constituencies, the Jana Sena Party has at least 3-5 percent of votes, including that of Kapus and hardcore Pawan Kalyan fans.
The surveys revealed that the transfer of Jana Sena Party votes to the TDP candidates in these constituencies may not happen at all. The reason is that the Jana Sena voters are not interesting in bringing Naidu to power at the cost of Pawan Kalyan.
They have been longing to see Pawan Kalyan as the next chief minister and they do not compromise on the same. They know that if Naidu becomes the chief minister again, he will not allow Jana Sena to grow and Pawan Kalyan may have to play second fiddle to Naidu.
So, these Jana Sena voters will either keep away from voting or vote for some other candidates. If there is no transfer of Jana Sena votes, the TDP has little chances of winning the seats and it will ultimately benefit the YSRCP.
With the surveys revealing these hard facts, Naidu is worried. Sources said these issues would come up during the seat-sharing talks between him and Pawan Kalyan.
Naidu may request the power star to give an open call to his party supporters and workers on the need to consolidate the opposition vote bank, so that there would be smooth transfer of votes between the two parties.
