Politics make strange bedfellows, goes a popular adage. Nobody knows which political party will join hands with another party.
Once arch rivals can suddenly become close friends and once close friends can become bitter enemies.
Well, such strange alliances are not uncommon even in Andhra and Telangana politics. But what matters is the purpose of such alliances and their outcome in the elections.
On Friday, Jana Sena Party president and power star Pawan Kalyan made an interesting comment on the new-found friendship between Telugu Desam Party and the Congress.
“Yeah, I know the popular saying that politics make strange bedfellows. But it should be productive. Will the Congress-TDP alliance be productive?" he asked.
He said he had watched some old clips. “The way Naidu was hating Congress, the way he loved BJP... People should be convinced and not Chandrababu (on alliances)," the Jana Sena president observed.
He said the TDP-Congress friendship had caused a "deep hurt" and "killed the Telugu self-respect" as it was only for the personal benefit of Naidu and not the Telugu people. He likened it to the hype prior to the release of a movie.
"During a film's pre-release, there will be a lot of advertisement that it’s going to become a big hit. Eventually, however, it will end up as a failure. That’s how we look at it," he remarked.
He recalled that he differed with his own brother (former Union Minister K Chiranjeevi) when the latter joined the Congress only to protect the state interests.
"We have to safeguard our self-respect. Our stand should, hence, be in a measured manner," he said, in an informal chat with reporters on-board the Janmabhoomi Express travelling to Tuni from Vijayawada.
The actor-turned-politician maintained that there was no chance of realignment of political parties in the state in the wake of the TDP's move.
“What Naidu did was only to protect his (political) existence. If any realignment happens...from our side, it will be for the sake of the people," Pawan asserted.
