Jana Sena Party chief and power star Pawan Kalyan has finally decided to contest the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.
He will be contesting from Pithapuram allotted to Jana Sena Party as part of the alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and Bharatiya Janata Party.
This was announced by Pawan Kalyan himself during the party workers’ meeting at Mangalagiri as part of the Jana Sena Party foundation day.
“I will be contesting from Pithapuram in Kakinada district. This is a stronghold of the Jana Sena Party,” he said.
Apparently, Pithapuram is dominated by Kapu voters, who account for more than 90,000 population. Right from the beginning, the seat is being won mostly by Kapu MLAs. But no MLA has won twice from this seat ever. Since the TDP is also very strong here, Pawan can win the seat easily, if there is a transfer of votes.
Interestingly, the Jana Sena Party chief appears to have kept the option open on contesting the Lok Sabha elections, too. He said he had not taken any decision yet on contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
He announced that his brother Nagababu is not going to contest the elections, but will campaign for the party.
“He is sacrificing his seat for the sake of alliance. In fact, I have also suffered losses because of the alliances, as I have taken the initiative to bring the three parties together,” he said.
After announcing the first list on February 24, the Jana Sena Party chief gave the clearance to Kandula Duresh from Nidadavolu constituency.
Though he did not announce the second list yet, a party leader familiar with the development said Pawan Kalyan had cleared the candidatures of Panchakarla Ramesh from Pendurty, S Vijay Kumar from Yelamanchili, Vamsi Krishna Yadav from Visakhapatnam (south), Bolishetty Srinivas from Tadepalligudem, P Dharma Raju from Unguturu, Bommidi Nayakar from Narasapuram and Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu from Bhimavaram.