Back in 2009, there was one fatal wrong step by TDP and that was to allot too many MLA tickets to their allies in Telangana, TRS. TDP won a sizeable number of seats it contested from but TRS stuttered in its allocated quota. This resulted in a close victory to Rajasekhar Reddy’s Congress.
A similar scenario is in accordance in Andhra Pradesh now as JanaSena and TDP are all but confirmed to join hands for 2024. But this time around, if they are to achieve their common goal – to defeat Jagan, they will have to act wisely, and particularly so in the case of Pawan Kalyan’s JanaSena.
JanaSena is indeed a generic force in AP politics but it is not quite in the position to win the desired number of MLA seats on its own. So, Pawan Kalyan should think smart here and follow the calculations of the seasoned campaigner, Chandrababu Naidu. The party should stick to the seats recommended by the TDP think tank.
If Pawan turns greedy and gets fixated on getting more seats, just for the sake of big numbers, it could be advantage YCP. This will give the Jagan party the chance to overpower JanaSena candidates as their infrastructure is not as strong as TDP’s.
JanaSena should understand that TDP is the bigger force and the party with the stronger cadre in the alliance and JanaSena’s support will only strengthen their chances and not the other way around. So, a realistic stance when it comes to seat allotment will benefit both parties.
Notably, Pawan is said to have had differences with TDP regarding the same topic in 2019 as he stressed on getting more MLA tickets. This didn’t serve either of the parties well. They can’t be repeating the same mistake in 2024.
