At last, it has been confirmed that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan will share the dais with PM Narendra Modi during his election rallies in Andhra Pradesh on May 6 and 8.
Till Friday, there was no confirmation about the participation of Naidu and Pawan Kalyan in Modi’s public meetings, as he would be addressing them only in constituencies where the BJP is contesting.
There was no media statement from the BJP, too, about the participation of Naidu and Pawan.
But on Friday, the BJP leaders informed the media that the TDP and Jana Sena presidents, too, would be taking part in the Modi’s rallies and all the three parties are involved in making arrangements for the same.
Apparently, the BJP leaders have realised that they might not be able to mobilise huge crowds to the Modi meeting, unless the TDP and Jana Sena Parties are involved.
The BJP doesn’t have much cadre strength, while the two allies have the capacity to mobilise crowds within a day.
Secondly, the absence of Naidu and Pawan at Modi’s meetings would send a wrong signal not only to the cadres of all the three parties but also to the people and that might backfire on the parties in the elections.
So, the BJP national leadership intervened to see that Naidu and Pawan attend Modi’s rallies and roadshows.
The first public meeting would be held at Vemagiri near Rajahmundry on May 6 (instead of May 7 as decided earlier), where the TDP and Jana Sena Party quickly entered the scene and started making arrangements to see that not less than a lakh of people attend the rally.
The party leaders are also taking enough precautions to see that the security lapses that were witnessed at the Chilakaluripet meeting on March 17 do not recur at Rajahmundry.