Published Feb 09, 2026 | 4:30 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 09, 2026 | 4:30 PM
Andhra Pradesh DyCM and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. Credit: x.com/JanaSenaParty
Ever since the Jana Sena party announced that its chief Pawan Kalyan would campaign for the BJP in Telangana’s municipal elections, there was something strange about it.
He was supposed to campaign for the BJP and his own Jana Sena Party on Saturday and Sunday. Finally, the inevitable happened. The tour was cancelled. No official explanation was offered—perhaps because it had to explain the unexplainable.
From the beginning, the schedule looked odd. The tour was a contradiction, much like the JSP’s political positioning in Telangana. Jana Sena, after all, is contesting the elections independently in the state, with no understanding whatsoever with the BJP.
The party is in the fray in 336 wards across 11 districts. Jana Sena general secretary Talluri Ram proudly announced that B-Forms had been issued. Karimnagar leads the pack with 56 wards, while Mahabubabad brings up the rear with a modest five.
So when the news broke that Pawan Kalyan would campaign —for the BJP, no less — confusion spread faster than a political WhatsApp forward. In many of the wards where Jana Sena candidates are contesting, BJP candidates have dug in their heels and sharpened their knives.
The obvious question arose almost immediately: for whom exactly would Pawan Kalyan be asking votes?
The press release announcing Pawan Kalyan’s schedule tried to clear the air by calling it a “friendly campaign” for the BJP. Unfortunately, no one could quite decode what a “friendly campaign” looks like when two parties are fighting tooth and nail in the same wards.
Would he praise the BJP candidate and then apologise to the Jana Sena candidate? Or deliver philosophical speeches on universal brotherhood while carefully avoiding candidate names? Or would he talks about Tirumala laddu, YSRCP and its “atrocities” in Andhra Pradesh.
Realising the logistical and political impossibility of campaigning for rival candidates in the same wards, the plug was quietly pulled on the tour. Jana Sena workers are understandably crestfallen—their leader will not be campaigning for them even though they are in the electoral bull ring.
The BJP, meanwhile, is hardly heartbroken. Pawan Kalyan’s Andhra roots make him a less-than-comfortable fit in Telangana’s local body elections.
The real spectators enjoying the situation are the Congress and the BRS. They were almost waiting for Pawan Kalyan to arrive, microphones ready, to point out that the BJP had to “import” an Andhra leader to campaign in Telangana.
Given Pawan Kalyan’s past anti-Telangana stand, his presence would have been a gift-wrapped opportunity for the BRS to whip up Telangana sentiment—something it has successfully done before, when Chandrababu Naidu tried to set foot in Telangana in 2018. That experiment ended rather like the Titanic: ambitious, dramatic, and ultimately underwater.
These days, Pawan Kalyan seems to be in a peculiar political no-man’s land. He can’t safely campaign for his own party in Telangana—doing so might evaporate whatever slim chances Jana Sena candidates still have. The BJP doesn’t particularly want him either. And yet, Telangana remains a will-o’-the-wisp for Pawan Kalyan and his larger NDA ally, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu — visible, tempting, and perpetually just out of reach.
In the end, the cancelled tour may be the most sensible decision of the lot. Sometimes, not campaigning is the best campaign strategy of all.
