Is Jana Senani Pawan Kalyan visiting UP for an alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)? Does he expect to change political scene in AP by working with Mayawati and her SC vote bank?

There are ample indications that Pawan is seriously moving forward for a damn sure tie-up with BSP. He is right now in Lucknow city along with some senior leaders to hold talks with BSP leaders there. Mayawati will figure in discussions after a deal is struck.

Pawan’s latest game plan is to attract another solid vote bank to his side so that it will make a lot of difference in 2019 elections. He expects ‘Kapu’ and ‘SC’ voters to boost the chances of Jana Sena-BSP to place themselves in the winning position in AP. The SCs are traditionally a strong support base of Congress. Now they are no longer preferring Congress for obvious reasons – due to the unjust separation of residual AP without a capital of its own.

Mayawati is a hard bargainer and very difficult to deal with as an electoral ally. If Pawan succeeds in convincing BSP leader, then Jana Sena-BSP combination will emerge as a third force which will offer a tougher fight to TDP than YCP. There is also talk that BSP’s likely alliance with Jana Sena will lead to substantial erosion of Jagan vote bank resulting in his party’s eventual defeat in 2019 elections. There was YSR sympathy among SCs in 2014 but Jagan could not win. This time, there is no such sympathy while Pawan is trying to attract SC vote bank.