The biggest grouse against Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan is that he and his party are more interested in going to war on trivial aspects while sidestepping serious issues. This image, coupled with the ignominious nickname of a ‘package star’, has already reduced the Power Star to a mere sidekick in politics. Jana Sena’s latest attempts to make fuss over the postponement of Pawan Kalyan’s proposed Bhimavaram tour proves this for the umpteen time.

Pawan Kalyan’s party triggered a needless controversy the other day when it released a statement on X (formerly Twitter). While announcing the postponement of their leader’s scheduled visit to Bhimavaram, the Jana Sena statement accused the Roads and Buildings department officials of denying permission for the landing of Pawan Kalyan’s helicopter there.

The R&B officials maintained that the Vishnu College grounds chosen by Jana Sena poses a potential risk due to the presence of residential apartments and houses within a 50-metre radius. They also clarified that due to this reason, prohibitive orders against chopper landings have been in place there since 2018.  But as is its wont, Jana Sena tweaked this fact to its convenience in a silly attempt to sling mud on the State Government. It tried to insinuate that the YS Jaganmohan Reddy government was deliberately creating hurdles for Pawan Kalyan to hamper his electioneering.

The tactic however backfired badly after Pawan Kalyan and his party were heavily trolled on social media platforms. In a no-holds-barred attack, netizens slammed the Power Star for resorting to silly excuses in a bid to cover up his reluctance to face the partymen and the public at Bhimavaram.

Everyone expected the heat and dust to settle down soon with the clarification of the R&B officials. But Jana Sena did not seem to learn its lesson even after being taken to the cleaners. In retaliation, it came up with yet another provocation in the form of a new statement released on Wednesday. It announced that the proposed visit of Pawan Kalyan in both the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts stand cancelled. The excuse is the same as was touted for Bhimavaram cancellation..!

“After denying permission for chopper landing in Bhimavaram which led to the cancellation of the visit there, the R&B authorities are hiding behind excuses to create troubles for the helicopter landing in Kakinada also.  Because of this, there will be a situation where Pawan Kalyan will have to land at Gollaprolu which is about 30 km away. Because of these obstacles that were being created, it was decided to postpone the visit. Pawan Kalyan has asked party’s legal cell to proceed legally against the obstacles being created by the State government in the guise of permissions,” the statement said.

But what followed in the statement exposed a gaping hole in the argument of Jana Sena on the issue. The statement said that the meetings with the party workers originally planned in Bhimavaram, Amalapuram, Rajahmundry and Kakinada will now be held at the party’s central office in Mangalagiri..! This begs the question as to how many times has Pawan Kalyan used a chopper in the past for places as closer as Mangalagiri and Bhimavaram. Why to deliberately choose a premises in Bhimavaram that has been off-limits for helicopter landings since 2018?

This makes it clear that Pawan Kalyan was unable to face the people and his partymen in the two Godavari districts with the issue of poll alliance still hanging fire indefinitely. Hence, he is playing truant and conveniently shifting the blame on his favourite punching bags, that is, YS Jagan and his government.

The reality is that, the actor-turned-politician is downbeat and has been hiding for cover in the aftermath of Chandrababu Naidu’s Delhi visit to cobble together an alliance of the TDP and Jana Sena with the BJP. With the national party dictating terms while exploiting their submissiveness, both Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are still keeping their fingers crossed. The alliance plan does not appear to take a clear shape for a few more days. With no seat-sharing in sight as yet, the two leaders are caught in a bind, unable to decide where to campaign for their respective candidates.

While this is the actual reason for the postponement of Pawan Kalyan’s visit, his Jana Sena gave a convenient spin to it to escape the wrath of its already restive supporters in the districts.