Perhaps for a second time, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan had talked firmly about the unity among the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh for the 2024 general election. At a public meeting at Sattenapalli in Palanadu district, the other day, Pawan Kalyan reiterated his commitment to keep anti-government votes intact. He said he would not allow the anti-government vote to remain united to defeat the YSR Congress.
Pawan Kalyan said that he had his own political strategy to bring unity among the opposition parties to defeat the YSR Congress. He had first called for unity among the opposition parties, particularly the BJP, TDP and Jana Sena, at his party’s formation day meeting held in March this year at Ippatam village of Guntur district.
While Pawan Kalyan wants unity, the BJP leadership is not ready for alliance with the TDP. The BJP central leadership believes that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had betrayed them in the 2019 elections by aligning with the Congress to defeat the BJP. Though it did not work and even Naidu’ TDP also lost the elections, the BJP leadership is understandably not ready to align with the TDP.
In this backdrop, Pawan Kalyan had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Visakhapatnam in November second week and since then he maintained a low profile for a couple of weeks. However, he started going hard against the YSR Congress leaders after a brief gap and at the Sattenapalli meeting, he made his mind clear to his party cadre.
He asked the party rank and file to be prepared to work together and work hard to defeat the YSR Congress in the next elections. He said he would take care of the alliance among the opposition parties and would ensure that the anti-YSR Congress vote is not divided. “I know and I have plans to build unity among the opposition parties. Leave that to me. But keep working hard to throw the YSR Congress out of the state,” Pawan Kalyan said in a firm tone.
However, it is to be seen how Pawan Kalyan would bring the BJP and the TDP together and work to defeat the YSR Congress as he claimed!
