Actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan is going through a tough situation.
While his party has little chances of winning more than five or six seats out of 175 seats in Andhra Pradesh assembly in the ongoing elections, his own prospects of victory in Bhimavaram in West Godavari and Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam are in jeopardy.
However, Pawan has to win either of the two seats to salvage at least his personal prestige.
According to sources, Pawan has entered into an understanding with Telugu Desam Party candidate Palla Srinivasa Rao in Gajuwaka – that Rao should keep a low profile in the present elections and allow Pawan to win the seat.
Pawan apparently told the TDP candidate that he would be winning Bhimavaram seat, too and after the elections, he would retain this seat. Then he would resign from Gajuwaka and in the ensuing by-elections, he would extend support to Rao in winning Gajuwaka seat.
Initially, the TDP candidate is learnt to have agreed for the proposal and did not campaign much for himself.
However, of late, there have been reports that Pawan is going to lose the Bhimavaram seat and has fair chances of winning Gajuwaka seat. Rao realised that in such a situation, Pawan will not give up his Gajuwaka seat at all.
So, the TDP candidate lost no time and started intensifying his campaign in Gajuwaka. For the last four or five days, Rao has been seen everywhere attacking the rivals including Pawan Kalyan.
Unlike Jana Sena chief, Rao, a civil engineer with expertise in seismic-resistant designs, is a local man and is son of former TDP MLA Palla Simhachalam.
Since he is a native, he says he has fair understanding of the people of Gajuwaka, an industrial belt with a lot of issues relating to pollution, rehabilitation and resettlement packages for the project displaced and housing.