It has been a disaster debut for Janasena and its party president Pawan Kalyan in the just concluded General assembly election. The party has settled for only one assembly seat from Rajole and what’s more painful is the fact that even its party president did not win from any of the two constituencies that he contested.
While there are several reasons for the failure of Pawan Kalyan and Janasena as a whole, here are the top four:
1. Lack of Media Support
It is a known fact that Janasena has pulled a considerable size of the crowd wherever the party president travelled. It was the only advantage for Janasena in the beginning, unlike other parties where the leaders have to spend money to attract crowds. But, in the end, the votes did not favour Pawan Kalyan. One of the main things that lacked Janasena party is the backing of a strong media group.
In the current day politics, almost every party has a separate news channel or even the backing of a group of top news channels. But, Janasena lacks it. Though it has the support of 99tv, the channel failed to create an impact due to its low viewership.
2. Confusion in criticising the government
Though Pawan Kalyan did not go hand-in-hand with TDP, YSRCP was largely successful in projecting that both Janasena and Chandrababu had a secret alliance. Not only this, a few decisions of Pawan Kalyan like focusing only on YS Jagan and not to field a candidate in Mangalagiri till the last minute had made public to believe that there was something fishy.
3. A Strong base at the ground level
Every political party must start right from the ground level after its initial setup. But, the Janasenani did not have the luxury of time to do this much before. The selection of candidates through interviews and written examinations has been a pathbreaking step for a new age politics. However, the process could have been completed at least a year before the release of election notification to provide sufficient time for the contestants to make themselves familiar with the public of their respective constituencies.
4. No Liquor No Cash = No Vote
Though it sounds harsh to read, the ground reality has been the same since independence. It is hard for any party to win a considerable size of vote share without going through the process of Note for Vote, at least in the illiterate areas of a constituency. Pawan Kalyan was successful to a major extent by entering the election without liquor and cash but has failed to garner the support of the public without it.