Pawan Kalyan meets Chandrababu; focus on joint legal fight against GO No.1

HYDERABAD: Jana Sena President Pawan Kalyan on Sunday paid a visit to the residence of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad for a key meeting to discuss the latest developments in Andhra Pradesh politics. Though sources in both the parties described it as a courtesy visit following Chandrababu Naidu’s event-filled Kuppam visit amid police restrictions, the two leaders were believed to have discussed some serious politics during the meeting.

They reportedly chalked out an action plan for the near future and on top of this agenda was the issue of putting up a concerted fight against the YSRCP government’s controversial GO No.1 banning public meetings and roadshows.

The two leaders, as some reports claim, also discussed ways to firm up their in-principle agreement for a broader opposition alliance and the roadmap for the 2024 elections.

Pawan Kalyan spent more than an hour at Naidu’s residence in Jubilee Hills. The meeting was touted to be more of reciprocal in nature given the fact that it was the TDP chief who called on the actor-turned-politician in Vijayawada two months ago, following violence and police restrictions during the Jana Sena chief’s visit to Visakhapatnam.

But despite the assertions of the sources of the two parties, the two leaders were learnt to have held deliberations on the prospect of a concerted legal battle against GO No.1, brought into effect by the YS Jaganmohan Reddy government. The YSRCP government issued the order prohibiting public meetings and roadshows on thoroughfares. The ruling party claims that the measure was taken in the wake of twin tragedies at Chandrababu Naidu’s recent events in Kandukur and Guntur which accounted for the lives of 11 people.

The GO, though appeared to have been issued in right earnest on the face of it, drew severe criticism from the entire spectrum of the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh. The YS Jagan government is being called out for using the tragic events to curtain the freedom of the opposition parties in holding public events.

In the wake of reports that some of the political entities were mulling the option of challenging the GO in courts, Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, during their Sunday meeting, also reportedly discussed the possibilities of putting up a concerted legal battle by all the like-minded parties. It was also reportedly felt that no time should be lost in approaching the courts in this regard as Nara Lokesh would be embarking on his Yuva Galam footmarch across the state and Pawan Kalyan’s tour on his campaign chariot Varahi in the next few weeks.

Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, both of whom have been investing all their energies to ensure YS Jagan’s YSRCP defeat in 2024, were also learnt to have agreed on the need for a joint plan of action from now onwards. With general elections still about 15 months away, the two leaders reportedly were of the opinion that joint protest activities against the state government by both the TDP and Jana Sena would yield desired results in firming up popular perception on the YSRCP failures.