The ever-enigmatic Pawan dilemma

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s latest foray into Andhra Pradesh from Hyderabad has established one point that is beyond any reasonable doubt. He is not on the side of YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy. However, the perplexing part is on the likely move of the actor because he raises many doubts on the whys and wherefores.

Will he be side with the ruling Telugu Desam Party? Or is he trying to create some space for himself in the political spectrum in the State with his sporadic insurrections into Andhra Pradesh? The YSRC leaders are emphatic that Pawan Kalyan is Chandrababu Naidu’s prima donna among the dramatis personae of the political play that he plays out to clear his way of any thorny bushes.

Though the Opposition party has been saying that Pawan Kalyan acts at Chandrababu Naidu,'s bidding, there is nothing that could establish any link between the two. However, his dramatic presence as and when the chips are down for Naidu makes one wonder if there is really one.

Ever since the bifurcation of the state, for one who reiterates every now and then that his outfit was set up to question the establishment, a la constructive opposition, the Power Star has invariably ended up playing cameo roles.

After addressing meetings, he enacts a vanishing act that would put even Houdini to shame. If it is not an exaggerated presumption, he, more or less, exists in cyberspace and descends on earth, once in a while.

An instance of Pawan donning political ‘colour’ happened soon after Chief Minister Naidu began his most controversial experiment-land pooling for construction of Amaravati. It raised a hue and cry with everyone firing all cylinders at Naidu.

When it appeared that he was fast falling out of famers favour, the actor appeared on the scene, interacted with people in Thullur mandal in Guntur district and advised Naidu not to snatch lands from the farmers against their will.

In early 2016, when some persons set fire to Vizag-Vijayawada Ratnachal Express after Kapu patriarch Mudragada Padmanabham addressed a major rally in Tuni in East Godavari district for BC status for kapus, the actor cast himself in the role of ‘messiah’ of kapus. He exhorted the Chief Minister to begin a dialogue with the politically-conscious and influential community and render justice to them.

There is growing feeling that this rescue act would split the kapu vote is such a way that Jaganmohan Reddy would be left impoverished, there by helping Naidu. There is a widespread feeling that Pawan Kalyan’s recent visit to Andhra Pradesh was to ensure that whatever anti-incumbency that is growing against Naidu for his acts of omissions and commissions would not translate into any political gains for the YSRCP.

This is evident from his act of comforting the kin of those who died in the boat tragedy in Krishna near Vijayawada or the Kapus’ BC status fiasco in the wake of the AP BC Commission Chairman Justice KL Manjunath not submitting any report and Naidu bringing in a legislation for BC status for kapus on report of the other members of the commission.

But Pawan Kalyan Achille's heel is his penchant for taking frequent sabbaticals and this makes one wonder if he is a serious player in the political landscape in the state or is only a device in the hands of Naidu to dilute the support base of bête noire back home.

There is also a buzz in Tollywood that Pawan would do one more movie very soon, which implies that he would vanish from the political spectrum for several months once again.

Naidu knows fully well that he won the last election with only two per cent more votes than Jaganmohan Reddy. This was also due to the charisma of Pawan Kalyan and Narendra Modi’s mojo. Tough Naidu is carefully protecting the carefully crafted coalition calculus, it remains to be seen how it works out in the next elections.

Presently, the signals are that the BJP is adopting a policy of equi-distance with YSRC and TDP though the latter is not only its ally but also partner in the NDA government at the Centre. Lest one should forget, the saffron party is a part of the TDP government in the State.

The BJP may take a call just before the electionson on whether or not it should continue its honeymoon with the yellow brigade. It will certainly weigh the extent of anti-incumbency wave against Naidu and also test the pulse of the electorate before taking a decision.

The strategic silence on its future relation with the YSRC always rankles the TDP. When Modi gave an interview to Jaganmohan Reddy on the eve of the presidential elections, the TDP leaders could not contain their bottled-up emotions and even faulted Modi for giving audience to their political opponent Their hatred for Reddy momentarily blinded their vision of noticing the possibility that such utterances would rub Modi’s shoulders on the wrong side.

Pawan Kalyan card is something that Chandrababu Naidu appears to be banking heavily on. It remains to be seen how riding shotgun with him would pan out for Naidu in the future. The public is waiting the political box-office verdict-whether ‘Gabbar Singh’ has hit the bull’s eye or delivered a dud, as have most of his films, his charming demeanor, notwithstanding.