Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan’s indecision in picking his Assembly constituency for the ensuing elections is turning out to be a laughing stock in public and a never-ending suspense thriller. As per the ongoing speculation, the actor-turned-politician is switching his choices for constituencies, with the ease of changing his clothes.
This has led to a strong feeling in the public view that it is actually the ‘Jagan factor’ that is giving the Power Star nightmares and sending shivers down his spine. Now, many believe that Pawan Kalyan is too scared to reveal the exact place of his electoral contest lest it should give the scope for YS Jagan to strategise and ensure his second successive defeat. Even Pawan Kalyan is not doing enough to trash this narrative, by not being bold enough, be it in zeroing in on his Assembly seat or finalising his party’s candidates for the remaining 19 of the allotted 24 seats. All that he is doing is to speak like a lunatic and abuse YS Jagan on public platforms.
Already, it is being rumoured that Pawan Kalyan had thrown up his hands in the air, prompting TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu to take up the mantle of finalising Janasena’s candidates at various places. In other words, the Janasena will field its candidates, handpicked by Chandrababu, something the wily veteran had allegedly done several times in the past, with his alliance partners.
Tirupati, latest in Pawan’s musical chairs
As if this is not enough, more distressing news emerged for the Janasainiks, claiming that Pawan Kalyan is of late looking at Tirupati Assembly constituency as his safest bet. The news is for sure in the realm of speculation for now but it comes at the back of many such speculations in the last 10 days, linking the temperamental leader to several other constituencies. It was largely perceived initially that the Janasena chief would fight the election this time from Bhimavaram. This was incidentally one of the two Assembly constituencies that Pawan Kalyan contested unsuccessfully in 2019, the other being Gajuwaka.
Before one could take this with a speck of truth, reports emerged, stating that the Janasena chief might switch over to Pithapuram, considering the 90-odd thousand Kapu votes in that constituency. Within days, he is said to have changed his mind again and was reported to be weighing his prospects at Tadepalligudem to ensure his maiden entry into the State Assembly. But subsequently, Pawan Kalyan seems to have kicked even Tadepalligudem out of the equation, thus prompting his to gravitate towards Tirupati.
The basis for all these changes, as per the speculations, were a dime a dozen survey reports which showed a certain defeat for Pawan Kalyan from the above-mentioned places. In Bhimavaram, the survey reports predicted that the Janasena chief would suffer a second straight defeat at the hands of YSRCP sitting MLA Grandhi Srinivas, his nemesis in the 2019 elections. Pithapuram was ruled out because of the dissidence issue within the TDP over seat-sharing. Consequently, Varma, an aspirant from the main opposition party, has announced that he would jump into the fray as an independent.
The mystery surrounding Pawan Kalyan’s place of contest deepened for the Janasainiks after IVRS calls began going out to the public in Tirupati constituency in the last few days. The electorate were asked for their insights on the prospects of the Janasena chief as opposed to YSRCP’s Bhuma Abhinay in the temple town. He seems to have taken a leaf out of the book of his elder brother Chiranjeevi. The Megastar, in his first election after floating his Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), was elected from Tirupati while he suffered a stunning defeat in Palakole of his native West Godavari district.
Pawan Kalyan is believed to have sensed the growing anger among his Kapu community in the coastal Andhra districts over his brand of subservient politics to Chandrababu Naidu and promoting the TDP interests at the expense of the Janasena.
While Pawan Kalyan is still undecided on his safer bet, the mother of all speculations emerged now, stating that the mercurial leader had actually proposed to contest from two Assembly seats, like he did in 2019. It is learnt that Pawan Kalyan expressed his strong desire to this effect during his deliberations with Chandrababu Naidu. Overtaken by the ‘Jagan phobia’, Pawan Kalyan is said to have vouched for this ‘twin contest’ plan to increase his winning chances even if he loses at one of them.
As these reports claim, the idea was instantly shot down by Chandrababu Naidu who reportedly warned that this would be taken as a sign of his diffidence which would further weaken his image in the public. The TDP chief is also said to have impressed upon Pawan Kalyan that everyone including Lokesh and himself is fighting it out from only one constituency. Naidu further reportedly told Pawan Kalyan that this would have its cascading effect on other constituencies as well, which is the last thing they would want to happen for their alliance.
Following this sermonising, Pawan Kalyan is understood to have reconciled to this reality even as efforts are on by Chandrababu Naidu and the TDP to test the waters in Tirupati for the Janasena chief.