The proposed “Rath Yatra” by Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partner Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh from February 4 in protest against vandalisation of temples in the by some miscreants in the recent past and demanding protection of temples has been postponed.
The rally – from Kapila Teertham (at the foothills of Tirumala) to Ramatirtham, was believed to be an attempt to consolidate the BJP-Jana Sena combine and strengthen their cadre base across the state. It is an excellent opportunity to galvanise Hindutva forces in the state in favour of the alliance.
However, BJP state president Somu Veerraju on Wednesday issued a statement announcing that the Rath Yatra has been postponed.
According to him, the yatra is being postponed in view of the ongoing elections to local bodies and the cadres would be busy in fighting the elections. He said a revised schedule of Rath Yatra dates would be announced after the completion of the local body elections.
It is not exactly known whether Veerraju issued the statement on consultation with Jana Sena president and actor Pawan Kalyan, since there was no such statement of postponement from Jana Sena.
Secondly, the election process has been going on for quite some time and the nomination process has already begun. The BJP leaders know about this and if elections are the only reason, they should have made the announcement of deferring of Rath Yatra long ago.
So, there must be a different reason for this sudden postponement. May be there is a signal from the BJP bosses in Delhi to call off the Rath Yatra, after the recent meeting chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with Union home minister Amit Shah to submit a status report on vandalization of temples.
If it is correct, it is a terrible disappointment to Pawan Kalyan. In February 2020, too, the BJP made a similar announcement on cancellation of a mega rally from Guntur to Amaravati, which it proposed to take up in collaboration with Jana Sena, demanding that the state capital be retained at Amaravati.
Then, also, Pawan Kalyan was caught unawares of the BJP’s decision. Finally, then BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana had to relinquish his party post!
