Pawan Kalyan To Contest From 2 Constituencies

Jana Sena Party President Pawan Kalyan who will be contesting elections for the first time has decided to contest from Gajuwaka constituency In Visakhapatnam and Bhimavaram constituency in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, he chose both the constituencies from the coastal belt which has a large presence of people from the Kapu community.

The Jana Sena Party leaders had suggested this move to which Pawan Kalyan agreed. A popularity survey was conducted in Anantapur, Tirupati, Rajanagarm, Pithapuram, Bhimavaram, Gajuwaka, Ichhapuram and Pendurthi constituencies and the leaders finally, zeroed in on Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram which could prove to be ideal for him to contest, party sources said.

This move is being criticised by political analysts as he had preferred places where the Kapu community were more in numbers. It may be recollected that in the beginning of Pawan Kalyan's political career when he started the party and canvassed in the 2014 elections ,he spoke loftily that he was beyond caste and that he was not just a Kapu and that he never asked for Kapu majority.

Now when he was contesting for elections he has chosen places where the Kapu are in majority. Analysts say that contesting from these two places could prove a tough fight. Taking reference to his brother Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party move of trying field a Kapu candidate like GV Sudhakar Naidu from Gajuwaka which failed miserably, they point out that Chiranjeevi also contested from Palakollu in his native West Godavari district and Tirupati in Chittoor district in the 2009 elections. He was defeated from Palakollu but won from Tirupati. Apart from his political career diving so did Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party which finally bit the dust thus ending his political career as well.

Political analysts say that with YSRCP candidate Grandhi Srinivas and TDP candidate Ramanjaneyulu also being Kapus , Pawan Kalyan will have tough fight to win and his Kapu caste calculation could misfire .

Under the alliance, Jana Sena will contest 140 Assembly and 18 Lok Sabha seats.

The party so far announced its candidates for 85 Assembly and 10 parliamentary seats.

It also announced candidates for two Lok Sabha seats Malkajgiri and Secunderabad in neighbouring Telangana, where too the election is slated for April 11.

The BSP will field candidates in three Lok Sabha and 21 seats while the two Left parties will contest seven Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats each.

Also Read: Nagababu Enters Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party