Whose space Pavan, Kiran will occupy?

Hyderabad : There were two important announcements on launch of new political parties in the State. One by Power Star Pawan Kalyan, brother of Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi and the other by former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Pawan would unveil his political plans on March 14 and there is a talk that he would field candidates in nine Lok Sabha constituencies and 40 Assembly constituencies in the forthcoming elections.

On the other hand, Kiran made an announcement that he would launch the new political party on March 12 at a public meeting to be held at Rajahmundry, where he would disclose the party's name, agenda and other details.

The announcements have not come as a surprise to anybody, as there has been a talk about Kiran's and Pawan's political plans for quite some time.

What is surprising to everybody is the timing of announcement of their political parties. While Pawan Kalyan's party is aiming at making just a political entry, Kiran is aiming at coming to power riding on the Samaikyandhra and Telugu self-respect slogans.

First of all, one wonders whether there is any space in the political spectrum of the State for new parties at present; secondly, whether these parties have been left with any time to make an impact on the elections; and thirdly, whether they have the required cadre base and financial resources to face the elections.

Coming to the first point, there has to be a political vacuum in the State and people must be looking for a strong party to fill the vacuum.In the present political context, there is absolutely no political vacuum in either Telangana or Seemandhra regions, which are soon going to become new States.

In the Telangana region, the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi have occupied most of the political space, while the TDP and the BJP have shared the remaining little space.

Similarly, in the Seemandhra region, the YSR Congress party and the TDP have already emerged as front runners for powers and the BJP and the Congress are struggling to make their presence felt. So one wonders where Kiran's new political party would fit into the present scheme of things.

There is hardly any space left for Kiran's political party to make a strong impact on the electorate so as to outplay the rival parties. First, he has to register his party and even if he acquires an already registered political party, he has to take it strongly into the people.

For that, he needs to build up organizational structure, right from booth-level to the constituency-level, which is a laborious process. So far, Kiran has not come out with any strategy.

Thirdly, Kiran has to draft a credible manifesto for the party and take it into people. He cannot hope to come to elections by merely addressing public meetings. He has to come out with some new schemes and new plans to attract the electorate.

Moreover, the 'Samaikyandhra' slogan does no more give an emotional appeal to the people, as the bifurcation has already been done. Even the 'self-respect' slogan does not work out, as it has already been hijacked by the YSR Congress party and the TDP.

Above all, Kiran needs to mobilise financial resources for launching the campaign. This might not be a problem as he has the backing of some strong industrialists-turned-politicians like Lagadapati Rajagopal and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao. However, money alone cannot fetch victory for his party.

The selection of right candidates, caste equations and right campaign strategy are essential for the victory. In the given scenario, one doubts whether Kiran would be able to gear up to face these challenges.

At the most, the former Chief Minister can become a spoiler for YSR Congress party in the Seemandhra region, which would indirectly benefit the Telugu Desam Party.