The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana has asked for support of the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) in the upcoming Assembly elections to be held on November 30. State BJP president G Kishan Reddy and Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman both met Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday, October 18, to seek support from the JSP.
BJP’s Telangana spokesperson NV Subhash said that Kishan Reddy and Laxman had made a “courtesy” call to Pawan Kalyan. “We wanted to ask for the support of Jana Sena, but we don't want TDP in Telangana,” he told TNM.
At the national level, the JSP is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). However, Pawan Kalyan announced earlier that JSP will be contesting seats and that it is likely to join hands with the Telugu Desam party (TDP). TDP state president Kasani Gnaneswar too said that the party will contest elections with the JSP.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which is trying to expand its footprint in Telangana, wants the support of Pawan Kalyan. It, however, does not want anything to do with the TDP. It is to be seen if the JSP agrees to help the BJP, given that it had already announced that it will contest in 32 seats for the upcoming elections and potentially help the TDP.
Political analyst Palwai Satyanarayana Reddy said that the current scenario involving the BJP, JSP, and TDP is an extension of the political situation in Andhra Pradesh. “The BJP has no vote bank right now in AP. The dominant Reddy and Kamma communities are with the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the main Opposition TDP. Kapus, who claim to be around 20% of the population, seem to be veering towards the JSP, so BJP is willing to work with Pawan Kalyan to tap into the Kapus,” he stated.
“The general sentiment among the people of Andhra Pradesh is that national parties have cheated them. That is why BJP and Congress got less than 1% of the vote in the 2019 Assembly and Lok General elections,” the political analyst added.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the TDP aligned itself with the Congress to take on the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The move failed and the BRS won 88 out of 119 seats, while the Congress and TDP won 19 and two seats respectively. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who is currently in prison for his alleged involvement in Andhra Pradesh’s ‘skill development’ scam, quit the NDA in 2018 over AP not getting ‘Special Category Status’.
The TDP in Andhra Pradesh has tried to silently approach the BJP’s high command to return back to the NDA. Naidu had met Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda earlier in June, but there has been no development on that front so far.
“The TDP will have a lot more vote share than the JSP in Telangana since Pawan Kalyan will be contesting the Assembly elections for the first time here. However, the BJP still does not want to talk to the TDP as it does not fit into its plans,” Satyanarayana Reddy added.