Has Jana Sena Party chief and power star Pawan Kalyan wasted a golden opportunity by joining hands with Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu?
The answer seems to be yes, according to some political analysts.
The arrest of Naidu in the skill development scam and the possible arrest of Lokesh in Fibernet scam would have been a blessing in disguise for Pawan Kalyan, had he exploited the situation to his advantage, says an analyst.
According to him, the latest developments have completely demoralised the TDP leaders and cadre. Though they are on the streets with demonstrations and rallies, the Jagan government has been crushing them with iron hand.
The TDP leaders are hoping that Naidu’s arrest has generated a lot of sympathy for him and the party and if Lokesh is arrested, the sympathy factor would benefit the party more.
“But looking at the way the courts have rejected his petitions, including the quash petition in the high court, the people have realised that Naidu might have had a role in the scam and that is why, the court are not showing any mercy towards him,” an analyst said.
At the same time, the situation of YSR Congress party, too, is not all that rosy. The party has lost its support base across the state, thanks to the anti-incumbency against the sitting MLAs rather than Jagan’s rule as such.
Especially in urban and semi-urban areas, the part has lost a lot of ground. The educated youth, the unemployed and the urban middle class may not vote for the YSRCP this time, the analyst says.
According to him, this has led to the situation wherein there is certainly a huge vacuum in the Andhra politics and the people are hoping for a fresh alternative to both the TDP and the YSRCP, whose governments have failed to meet up to their expectations.
Under these circumstances, Pawan Kalyan has the capacity to come up as an alternative. Needless to say, he has a lot of craze among the youth and also educated masses, besides women. His huge fan base would come in handy for him to exploit the situation.
In fact, Pawan himself has seen how the people are shouting “CM, CM” wherever he addressed rallies. If he can start taking independent path and make a whirlwind tour of the state with an alternative public agenda, there would have been definitely a lot of advantage for him.
At the same time, Pawan would also have had the support of his political ally BJP and the Centre would have extended him required assistance to counter the two strong opponents and emerge victorious.
Now, it appears Pawan has developed cold feet. He has no confidence in himself and his party cadre and above all the people. He is afraid that his political existence will be completely wiped out, if he cannot win enough number of seats to come to power.
So, Pawan did not want to take any risk and wanted to play safe by aligning his party with the TDP. By declaring his alliance with Naidu, he has converted a potential blockbuster film into a disaster.
He thought his party could survive by winning at least a few seats in alliance with an established party like the TDP. So, he decided to play a second fiddle to Naidu!
