After staying out of the reckoning for a long time, veteran Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah has been in the political limelight, largely because of Jana Sena’s electoral alliance with the Telugu Desam Party. Ever since Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan began seat-sharing talks, the senior Kapu leader has once again become active. At times, even taking a strident posturing in public.

Harirama Jogaiah has been shooting off several missives to Pawan Kalyan, pointing out the flaws in the actor-turned-politician’s tactics and approach. As the chief of Kapu Sankshema Samithi, he is leaving no stone unturned to caution the Jana Sena chief on the ramifications of compromising the interests of Kapus and the Jana Sainiks. He is particularly critical about suspicions that Pawan Kalyan would eventually end up helping Chandrababu Naidu and his TDP win the elections at the expense of the Kapus’ pride.

The veteran has been writing a series of open letters to Pawan Kalyan on various aspects concerning the seat-sharing deal. They include a respectable allocation of seats to Jana Sena, not less than 60 or one-third of the total 175 seats in Andhra Pradesh Assembly. A share in chief-ministership for Jana Sena is the other. The third most important one is the need for Pawan Kalyan to remain firm about the seats where his party has perceived strength.

Chegondi caused ripples recently in the aftermath of Nara Lokesh’s assertion that there would be no sharing of chief-ministership which, he said, would stay with Chandrababu Naidu alone. The senior leader also publicly questioned Pawan Kalyan for his inability to convince Chandrababu Naidu for the 60-seat allotment. Harirama Jogaiah’s posturing on these two issues found resonance with the Kapus in East and West Godavari district besides the Jana Sainiks who have genuine aspirations to be treated equally.

In fact, the senior leader minced no words in taking Pawan to task for failing to get concrete assurances from Chandrababu Naidu in this regard. This has obviously sparked a discussion in political circles on what makes him so bold and who is his invisible support system.

To the naked eye, it may appear that Harirama Jogaiah is proving too hot to handle for Pawan Kalyan with his blistering attacks. But, if the latest speculation is to be believed, the 86-year-old leader is shooting off his letters at the behest of the Jana Sena chief himself. There is a prevailing presumption that Pawan Kalyan is quietly using Harirama Jogaiah to float demands that he himself is unable to take up with Chandrababu Naidu. His inexperience in dealing with the nitty-gritties and the tact needed for seat-sharing negotiations is said to be the reason why he is relying on the senior leader to do the needful.

There is another theory floating around on the flipside which suggests that Harirama Jogaiah’s flurry of open letters is a clever ploy to play on the minds of the Jana Sainiks and tone down the emotions of the Kapus. In other words, it is meant to eventually trick them into reconciling to whatever number of seats Chandrababu Naidu will offer. Those propagating this theory seek to remind that Harirama Jogaiah has shot off as many as four open letters in the last 10-odd days. There is a visible shift in the veteran leader’s stand on the number of seats for Jana Sena. Till the other day, the senior leader was maintaining that anything less than 60 Assembly seats for Jana Sena would only mean undermining the party and bruising the self-esteem of Kapus.

But in his latest letter, Harirama Jogaiah said that Pawan Kalyan should insist on at least 41 Assembly seats, sparking off these speculations.