There is no denying the fact that Balineni Srinivasa Reddy is one of the influential leaders in the Ongole parliamentary belt. He might have lost the 2024 assembly elections here but he is still regarded as one of the stalwart Reddy community leaders for YCP in the Ongole region.
While Balineni is widely regarded as a hardcore loyalist of the YS family, the latest media speculations are suggesting that he might be quitting YCP soon and take the Janasena oath.
As per a report from a leading Telugu media tabloid, Balineni, who has been at crossroads with YCP high command for a long time sees this as the right time to end his journey with Jagan.
Factually speaking, Balineni looked to be on the brink of leaving YCP before the 2024 election itself, citing the fact that his good friend Magunta is being denied Ongole MP ticket by Jagan. But Jagan himself pacified Balineni later and convinced him to stay with the party and contest in Ongole. But the result was an epic disaster as Balineni lost by a big margin.
Balineni was first rejected the cabinet berth by Jagan in his second cabinet expansion which allegedly hurt him deeply then itself, and this was followed by Magunta getting ousted. The situation isn’t very positive for Balineni in the Jagan camp at the moment.
At the same time, there is a ground level talk that the senior Reddy leader might look to join Janasena and he could well be meeting Pawan Kalyan soon to discuss the matter.
On one side Balineni is fighting the EVM battle through EVM re verification battle at high court but internally, he is keeping his doors open for Janasena and his followers are also optimistic about this, says this report.
However, both Janasena and TDP have firmly decided not to permit YCP candidates and leaders as the public mandate is very clear that YCP and its group of leaders have no backing from the commoners. At this time, Balineni being allowed into Janasena is a topic of discussion. We shall wait and watch how things shape up henceforth.