The Jana Sena Party (JSP)‘s alliance with the BJP is intact for now, and it is only a perception that they are pulling in opposite directions and that the JSP may eventually tie-up with the TDP to make reasonable gains in 2024 elections.
“There was indeed a gap, but it was largely due to the disturbance caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Otherwise, there is no reason to believe that the JSP is going to part ways with the BJP,” JSP Political Affairs Committee chairman Nadendla Manohar has asserted, while dropping a hint that it is not going to take the gamble of fighting its own battle. In an interaction with The Hindu, Mr. Manohar said, having learnt quite a few lessons since its formation, the JSP was moving ahead with a calibrated approach on certain major issues such as the politically-sensitive matter of reservation for the Kapu, Telaga, Balija and Ontari communities. When it comes to other burning topics, JSP has no two thoughts.
Three capitals
As far as the government’s proposal to have three capitals was concerned, the JSP had long ago made its stand clear that decentralisation would do no good to the State, and that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should give up his obsession with it.
Mr. Manohar said the JSP was of the firm belief that Special Category Status (SCS) would give a fillip to development of the successor State of A.P., and the onus of fighting for it was on the State government, irrespective of the party in power, as an assurance for it had been given in Parliament. The Central government’s decision to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) was faulted by the JSP. Pawan Kalyan had thrown his weight behind the VSP employees. Mr. Pawan Kalyan had raised a host of issues in his discussions with the BJP’s national leaders. “It remains to be seen what the Centre will do,” Mr. Manohar observed. Asked what his party’s response would be if the BJP continued to insist that the High Court be shifted to Kurnool while Amaravati remained the capital for all other administrative functions, Mr. Manohar said the JSP would call a spade a spade as it had been in favour of the location of the seat of governance at a single place. “The JSP is espousing the cause of various sections. At the same time, we are focusing on strengthening the organisation. We will have village-level committees by the end of April,” Mr. Manohar said, while refusing to hazard a guess on early elections. Mr. Pawan Kalyan will announce the future course of action at the party’s Formation Day programme on March 14, having made some lost ground in the local body elections amidst heavy odds, the JSP leader said.
