All the forces seem to be trying to join hands together in Andhra Pradesh. With the impending elections next year, battle lines are being drawn clearly to establish dominance. In this regard, the big talk of alliances and any understandings to try and unseat the current YSRCP government is picking up pace. This has again gained credence after the sudden and surprise visit of Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan to the home of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Recently it is known that Chandrababu visited Pawan when he was staying at a hotel in Vijayawada, and this was apparently to express solidarity regarding the so-called move by AP police to restrict Pawan Kalyan’s activities and meeting in Visakhapatnam. Both addressed a joint press conference where they declared that they would be fighting unitedly to save democracy in Andhra Pradesh.
Now, at Babu’s residence, the meeting lasted for nearly 2 and half hours and again both addressed the press jointly. This time again they declared that their meeting has only one agenda, that is to save democracy in AP. Pawan said that he met Babu since the latter was restricted from meeting his supporters in Kuppam by the Jagan government.
However, according to sources, the agenda that was discussed seems to be very different. TDP wants Jana Sena and Jana Sena wants more seats. Even in United AP, TDP never gave more seats to any alliance partners and Pawan Kalyan seems to be insisting on 50 seats for his party. TDP leadership feels this is suicidal as it will result in mass discontent and upheaval within the party. TDP’s initial offer was somewhere between 15 to 20 seats.
Now, they seem to have increased it slightly to 25 and they may settle for a maximum of 32 if there’s no choice but TDP is firm that they don’t want to cross this limit. The party fears that since Jana Sena doesn’t have a strong party organization and dedicated vote base as yet, it may spoil their chances to come to power. Jana Sena feels that even the very few votes it can fetch in every assembly segment will make them a king maker. Until this number is agreed by both, the official announcement for their meeting will continue to be ‘Save Democracy’.
