Hyderabad: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan is at it again. From giving a clarion call to Opposition parties to put up a united fight against AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy a few weeks ago to unveiling the ‘three options’ theory just a few days ago, the Jana Sena chief has exhibited what he is best at – inconsistency.
Addressing party workers in Vijayawada on Sunday, Pawan Kalyan announced that he had three options for the 2024 polls, one being the continuation of the BJP alliance, the other roping the Telugu Desam into the alliance and the third one of going it alone. Ironically, except for the option of the TD-JS-BJP combine, the remaining other two would eventually lead to split in the anti-incumbency vote.
Another display of inconsistency by the Jana Sena came to the fore the next day when party official spokesperson P. Mahesh demanded that the BJP to declare Pawan Kalyan as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the combine as, according to him, the people were in great confusion. The spokesperson’s demand was in sharp contrast to his supremo’s public posture that he was not keen on Chief Ministership but his goal was to defeat Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Admitting that there was confusion over the approach, a senior Jana Sena leader told Deccan Chronicle that there was, however, no compromise on pursuing the singular task of defeating Jagan Mohan Reddy by the Jana Sena chief. He also said the party leadership was fully convinced that the BJP was in no mood to upset the Chief Minister for the next elections.
“We are now worried that we would be left with no time if the soft-pedalling continued till the run-up to the polls,” a senior leader said adding that the time would soon come when the party would take a drastic step on the alliance with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the party leadership was increasingly coming under pressure to sever its ties with the BJP and work towards a respectable alliance with the Telugu Desam. “There is a strong desire among the cadre and the people that we should work together but the terms of engagement will have to be worked out and the alliance should be a win-win situation,” the leader pointed out.
