Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan said his party was still with the BJP and it was not coming out of the ruling NDA coalition while forging an alliance with the TDP to get rid of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy by ending his autocratic rule in the 2024 elections. He said he would meet the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP national president J.P. Nadda soon, and explain to them the circumstances under which he announced the tie-up with the TDP at Rajamahendravaram. He hoped that the national party would join the TDP-JSP combine in the ‘interests of democracy’.
Addressing the JSP’s general body meeting near here on Saturday, Mr. Kalyan said his top priorities were political stability for economic prosperity and law and order and among other things, bringing a liquor policy that would be more of regulatory in nature than seeking to impose prohibition.
He said the JSP was not in a hurry to discuss power-sharing with the TDP as it was too early to talk about it as the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) must be defeated first which, he admitted, was not an easy task given its (YSRCP’s) strengths and due to the fact that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy would not accept defeat so easily.
Mr. Kalyan said the JSP-BJP alliance did not make the best use of the opportunity to make its mark in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) politics, which BJP knows well. He felt that the alliance with the TDP was needed not in their personal interests but to save the people of A.P. from the YSRCP, which had scant regard for the Constitution and showed an inclination to stamp out any opposition, which does not augur well for democracy.
He exuded confidence that the JSP and the TDP would achieve the desired goal and wished that the BJP would not opt out of the front, and announced the formation of a committee headed by JSP political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar for coordinating with the TDP on ways to take the alliance forward.
