The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and matinee idol-turned politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena have decided to forge an alliance and contest the Telangana Assembly polls together, even though the actual seat adjustment is yet to be finalised as per the deal made in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy, and Rajya Sabha MP K. Laxman, among others, were present during the talks held with Mr. Pawan Kalyan on Thursday. The Jana Sena is said to have sought more than 20 seats in different parts of the State, including districts of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahabubnagar and a few others, according to senior leaders.
The local BJP leadership, however, is not ready to share more than eight seats with the Jana Sena. But it is also not averse to the film star campaigning on behalf of the party across Telangana. Jana Sena is part of the NDA and we have a tie-up in Andhra Pradesh too. What is wrong if we make use of his services here? Everything will be finalised in a few days, they said.
“The party does not see anything amiss in having an Andhra leader campaign in TS. When a party like CPM, which was against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, was wooed first by the BRS during the Munugode bypoll and now by the Congress to win constituencies where it has a presence, we don’t see anything wrong in having a tie-up with Jana Sena or making its president campaign for us, they added.
Mr. Kishan Reddy and Mr. Laxman had earlier met Mr. Pawan Kalyan here a week ago to hold preliminary talks about seats’ adjustment and other related issues before the matter was taken to the Central leadership.
Second list on Nov. 1
The party is also getting ready to release the second and final list of candidates contesting the polls on November 1. The Central BJP leadership has already negated requests from a few senior leaders for a change in constituency and talks were being held with the fence-sitters to ensure they do not jump ship at the last moment.
After the exit of former MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, party seniors are hopeful that they will get justice in the second list and won’t get a short shrift, as is being feared by a former MLA in favour of a likely new entrant.
