The meeting between Union Minister, Telangana BJP President Kishan Reddy, and the party’s Rajya Sabha member K. Lakshman with Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan has led to speculation about whether this meeting will result in an alliance between the two parties for the upcoming assembly elections. Kishan Reddy did not reveal any details following the meeting. The Party’s spokesperson Prakash Reddy, claim that the BJP has only sought the support of Janasena and there will be no formal alliance. However, Jana Sena cadre is against sacrificing once again for BJP. They believe that supporting the BJP and abstaining from contesting in the elections will not be good for the party.
Janasena to contest 32 seats in Telangana
Jana Sena has already announced that it will contest 32 seats in Telangana. The names of the seats to be contested have also been revealed. Out of these, 9 seats are under GHMC. On the other hand, the BJP is yet to announce its list of candidates. There are reports that the first list, consisting of 40 candidates, will be released shortly. Even though the BJP claims that it is going to come to power in Telangana, the party knows the ground reality. The party, which won only one seat in the last assembly elections, then made a remarkable comeback with the GHMC elections, Dubbaka, and Huzurabad by-elections. It is a fact that the party’s graph has increased under the leadership of Bandi Sanjay.
However, after the Munugode by-election, the BJP gradually fell apart. With the change in the party’s leadership, there was a sudden stagnation in the BJP. Against this backdrop, the recent public meetings held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah in Telangana brought some momentum to the party. Modi and Amit Shah will participate in more public meetings in Telangana in the coming days. Additionally, leaders such as UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Assam CM Himanta Biswasharma will also join the election campaign on behalf of the BJP in Telangana.
Will the GHMC election scene repeat?
Kishan Reddy’s meeting with Pawan during the BJP’s ramping up for its election campaign sparked an interesting discussion within the party and political circles. Although the BJP-Jana Sena alliance is currently ongoing in Andhra Pradesh, in practice it is far from reality. Pawan Kalyan recently visited TDP leader Chandrababu in Rajahmundry Jail after his arrest in the Skill Development Scam. Shortly after, it was announced that there would be an alliance between Jana Sena and the TDP in the next election, with hopes that the BJP would also join them. However, a few days later, Pawan announced that Janasena had quit the NDA to join the TDP, but he contradicted himself the next day by stating that Jana Sena had not left the NDA. This confusion has left the status of the Janasena-BJP alliance in Andhra Pradesh unclear.
Telangana BJP state president and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and Rajya Sabha MP Dr K Laxman met Janasena party chief Pawan Kalyan today. pic.twitter.com/2MXdSzjIBX
— ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2023
Until now, there has been no official alliance between these two parties in Telangana. In 2020, when the Jana Sena was preparing to contest the GHMC elections, the BJP approached the party for support. Consequently, Jana Sena withdrew from the GHMC elections and backed the BJP. Presently, the BJP still wants the Jana Sena’s support, urging them not to contest the Telangana assembly elections. Kishan Reddy has apparently conveyed this to Pawan Kalyan. However, it is reported that Pawan Kalyan has proposed to the BJP to contest the elections together. Pawan claims that the Janasena will not back down from contesting this time, as party members are insisting on participating in the elections. Kishan Reddy seems to have brought this matter to the attention of the BJP leaders in Delhi.
Why BJP seeks only support, not alliance with Janasena
During the last Assembly elections in 2018, Congress, TDP, TJS, and CPI formed a grand alliance and contested in Telangana. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu participated in the campaign on behalf of the Grand Alliance. TRS alleged that the alliance with Chandrababu Naidu meant an attempt to impose Andhra’s dominance on Telangana once again. This accusation strongly resonated with the masses, resulting in a resurgence of sentiment towards Telangana. As a consequence, the Grand Alliance suffered a significant defeat in the election. Taking this experience into account, the Congress Party’s Telangana leadership opposed the proposal of merging YSRTP, under the leadership of YS Sharmila, into their party. Congress believed that accepting Sharmila, who hails from Andhra, and merging her party with Congress would convey the wrong message to the people of Telangana during the elections. Therefore, the Congress party rejected the merger proposal.
Since Janasena is also a party led by Andhra leadership, it appears that the BJP is attempting to gain support from the party rather than forming an alliance. It seems that the BJP believes that contesting elections with Janasena could go against the Telangana sentiment! Nevertheless, it seems that Janasena is unwilling to make sacrifices for the BJP this time.
[…] regarding seat allocations for Janasena from the BJP, reports suggest that Janasena’s leader, Pawan Kalyan, has agreed to field candidates in 8 seats. Prior to the alliance discussions with the BJP, there […]