As Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan continued to hold discussions with the Bharatiya Janata Party national leadership on Friday, an interesting development has come to light from the talks.
According to some reports from New Delhi, during the discussions with the two leaders, senior BJP leader and Union home minister Amit Shah reportedly proposed to Pawan Kalyan that he should contest the Lok Sabha elections, rather than the assembly elections.
Shah reportedly assured the Jana Sena Party chief that if he got elected from Lok Sabha constituency, he would be inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet and given a prominent portfolio.
“This will help both the state and central governments. He can do a lot of liaisons between the centre and the state and continue to pursue the projects required for Andhra Pradesh,” the Union home minister is learnt to have told Pawan Kalyan.
He reminded that even his elder brother Chiranjeevi was given the Rajya Sabha ticket and made a cabinet minister at the Centre during the Congress regime. That had brought him a lot of recognition.
Apparently, Pawan Kalyan also gave it a thought, as it is a better option to get a respectable position at the Centre, instead of taking directions from Naidu and Lokesh in the state, if the alliance comes to power. He can depute his senior colleague Nadendla Manohar to handle the party affairs in the state.
So, if the reports are true, then Pawan might contest the Parliament elections either from Anakapalle or Kakinada. To be on the safe side, he can also contest the assembly elections so that even if he loses the LS polls in the worst case scenario, he can still retain his MLA seat, which he is confident of winning.
This arrangement will also bring a lot of relief for Naidu, as it will do away with an alternative power centre within the state.