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Naidu hints at tie-up with Pawan Kalyan for 2024 assembly election
Reacting to a suggestion by party workers on Thursday that the TDP could have a pact with the Jana Sena Party in the next elections, Naidu said his party was ready to join hands with Pawan Kalyan, if there was a reciprocation from the latter.
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Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has indicated that his party is looking for an alliance with the Jana Sena Party headed by Telugu film actor Pawan Kalyan in the next Andhra Pradesh assembly elections to be held in 2024.
Naidu indicated this during his ongoing tour in his constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district. Reacting to a suggestion by party workers on Thursday that the TDP could have a pact with the Jana Sena Party in the next elections, Naidu said his party was ready to join hands with Pawan Kalyan, if there was a reciprocation from the latter.
“An alliance can work out if there is a positive response from the other side. It cannot be a one-side love,” the TDP chief said.
On Friday, Naidu told the media that there was a need for all like-minded political forces to come together to end the “destructive rule” of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state. “It is necessary to put up a united fight against the ruling party under the present circumstances,” the former chief minister said.
On his comment about one-side love with the Jana Sena Party, Naidu clarified that he was only explaining about political alliances which would be worked out on mutual agreements and not in the interest of one side.
He said alliances between political parties would be discussed only at the time of elections, depending on the necessity and the political situation prevailing at that time. “The TDP does not depend on alliances alone to win elections. It had won the elections and lost elections in the past irrespective of the alliances it had with other parties,” he said.
The Jana Sena Party reacted cautiously to the TDP chief’s comments on the possibility of an alliance between the two parties. “So far, there have been no discussions whatsoever between the TDP and the Jana Sena on an alliance. We do not know in what context the TDP president made such a comment,” Jana Sena Party political affairs committee chairman and former assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar told HT.
He said during the local body elections held in Andhra Pradesh last year, there were instances of the TDP and Jana Sena Party fighting together in some districts to counter the YSR Congress Party. “Maybe, as an extension of this cooperation in the local body elections, the TDP cadre might have made such a suggestion for an alliance in the assembly elections as well,” he said.
The issue of an alliance with the TDP is expected to come up for discussion at the state executive committee meeting of the Jana Sena Party to be held at its state headquarters in Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Sunday. “We shall definitely discuss the issue. But it is too early to talk about electoral alliances at this stage,” Manohar said.
The Jana Sena Party has been in an alliance with the BJP since the last general elections in 2019. In April last year, Pawan Kalyan campaigned for the BJP in the by-election to Tirupati parliamentary constituency.
But after that both the parties have been adopting independent lines in their fight against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. While the Jana Sena Party decided to stay away from the contest in the by-elections to Badvel assembly seat in Kadapa district held on October 30, the BJP fielded its candidate without consulting its alliance partner.
Pawan Kalyan has also differed with the BJP on the issue of privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and joined the agitations of the steel plant workers. Similarly, the BJP stayed away from the Jana Sena Party’s fight against the bad roads in the state.
Reacting to Naidu’s comments on the one-side love with the Jana Sena Party, BJP state president Somu Veerraju described the TDP chief as the “most opportunistic politician”. “He is known for his use-and-throw politics. He can love anybody for his convenience and later dump him after the purpose is served,” Veerraju said.
The TDP had forged an alliance with the BJP in 2014 general elections and was part of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government till 2018.
YSR Congress Party ridiculed the TDP chief’s comments on an alliance with the Jana Sena Party. “Naidu has no courage to go to elections independently, because he knows the TDP cannot win elections alone. It was there for everybody to see in 2019 assembly elections,” senior YSRC leader and legislator Malladi Vishnu said.
He said Naidu always looks for “opportunistic alliances” with other parties to win elections. “But his wily tactics will not work even in 2024, because no political party in the state has the capacity and calibre to face the YSRC in the elections,” Vishnu said.
