Even as there are speculations over some senior leaders making an attempt to bring about a patch-up between the YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Jana Sena Party led by actor Pawan Kalyan in order to avoid splitting of anti-establishment vote, there are also reports in some sections over a secret understanding between Jana Sena and Telugu Desam Party.
According to these reports, Jana Sena and TDP will contest the elections independently, but in many constituencies, they will have friendly contests.
Since Jana Sena Party is facing shortage of good candidates, those who cannot be accommodated in the TDP due to high competition will contest as Jana Sena candidates.
It is learnt, in the constituencies where YSR Congress party is strong, Jana Sena will field stronger candidates, so that they could split anti-establishment votes. And in the TDP strongholds, Pawan will field ordinary candidates.
Similarly, in a few constituencies where Pawan has strength and TDP is weak, Naidu will field weak candidates as part of friendly contests to ensure that Jagan does not win the seats.
In both the instances, the election expenditure of the Jana Sena candidates would be borne by the TDP itself. And in the post-poll scenario, Pawan would extend support to the TDP!
It is a different matter that Jana Sena leaders are denying such reports, describing them as baseless.
“Pawan is fielding serious candidates in all the constituencies. You are going to witness the same in a few days,” a journalist who is closely associated with Jana Sena activities said.