Former YSR Congress party Visakhapatnam district unit president and two-time MLA, Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, is all set to join the Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan.
Last week, Panchakarla resigned from the YSRCP and met film actor and JSP president Pawan Kalyan, along with political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar, at the Jana Sena Party office in Mangalagiri on Sunday.
He announced that he would officially join JSP in the presence of Pawan Kalyan on July 20.
Panchakarla expressed his commitment to sincerely fulfill any responsibilities entrusted to him by the party. He has his sights set on the Pendurthi Assembly seat in the upcoming elections and is believed to have received assurance from Pawan regarding his candidacy.
Initially, there were talks about Panchakarla defecting to the Telugu Desam Party led by N. Chandrababu Naidu. Senior TDP leaders in Visakhapatnam, such as Ganta Srinivasa Rao from the same community, made efforts to bring Panchakarla into the TDP.
However, Panchakarla had concerns that he might not secure the TDP ticket from Pendurthy due to resistance from former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, who previously represented the constituency. Naidu also cannot afford to antagonize Bandaru at this stage, as it would disrupt the TDP cadre in the constituency.
Therefore, Panchakarla considered the Jana Sena Party as a safe place to test his luck. However, in the event of an alliance between the Jana Sena Party and the TDP, Panchakarla may face a challenging situation unless there is an understanding between the two parties regarding the Pendurthy seat.
The TDP is said to regret Panchakarla's decision to join the Jana Sena Party, as he possesses knowledge of the strategies employed by the YSRC in Visakhapatnam. Sources suggest that he will be an asset to the Jana Sena Party, as he has the potential to fight against the YSRC.
As previously reported, Ramesh Babu entered politics in 2009 and contested from the Pendurthi assembly constituency on a Praja Rajyam Party ticket. He won the seat but was later compelled to join the Congress party along with PRP president and megastar Chiranjeevi.
After the bifurcation of the combined state, Ramesh Babu left the Congress and joined the Telugu Desam Party in 2014, along with Ganta Srinivas Rao and Avanti Srinivas. He contested the assembly elections from Yelamanchili on the TDP ticket and won the seat.
In August 2020, Ramesh Babu resigned from the TDP to join the YSRC. He was appointed as the Visakhapatnam district party president but has faced difficulties in adjusting there. Indications suggest that he might now join the Jana Sena Party, according to sources.