Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana has forged an alliance with the Jana Sena Party to contest the upcoming assembly elections scheduled for November 30, suspense prevails over the alliance in Andhra Pradesh.
The Jana Sena Party has already announced an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh to fight the assembly elections together early next year and has also announced joint coordination committees to that effect.
On Monday, both parties are meeting in Vijayawada to discuss the draft election manifesto so that they can campaign together. Leaders of Jana Sena and TDP held a series of talks on the common action plan.
However, the BJP has not yet made a decision on joining the TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance. Both the BJP and the Jana Sena leaders still say that they are alliance partners, but Pawan Kalyan has joined hands with the TDP, whereas the BJP has stayed away from it.
This has created confusion among the Jana Sena Party cadres as to whether they should work with the TDP or the BJP in the coming elections.
Adding to the confusion, there are indications from the BJP national leadership that it might not support the TDP, while local leaders like Daggubati Purandeshwari and Satya Kumar are issuing statements in support of the TDP leaders.
At this stage, Pawan went for an alliance with the BJP in Telangana elections, creating further confusion in Andhra. He has not made it clear whether he will snap ties with the BJP and join hands only with the TDP in Andhra, in case the BJP doesn’t join the alliance.
Sources said the BJP national leadership told the Jana Sena Party chief that it would take a call on joining the TDP-Jana Sena alliance in AP depending on the outcome of the Telangana assembly elections.
"If the BJP can win a few seats with the support of Jana Sena and the Jana Sena, too, can win a few seats in Telangana, then the BJP leadership might consider his request to join the TDP-Jana Sena alliance in Andhra.
"If the Pawan Kalyan factor doesn’t help the BJP in Telangana in any manner, it might ignore him in Andhra Pradesh. It will keep silent because, for the BJP, winning the Lok Sabha elections is more important than the AP assembly. So, it might not go with the TDP-Jana Sena alliance," sources said.