Pawan Kalyan Rubbishes Rumours of Pre-poll Alliance in Andhra Pradesh, Says Will Go Solo

Hyderabad: Amid speculations that the Jana Sena Party, led by Tollywood star Pawan Kalyan, could enter into a pre-poll alliance in Andhra Pradesh, the party clarified that no such pact with the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or key opposition party YSRCP was on the cards.

Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday said the Jana Sena will contest in all the 175 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming assembly elections this year and rumours of alliance were being spread by the other parties in an attempt to mislead the people.

Though the managed to gain sufficient traction in the past few months following aggressive campaigning in the state by Kalyan, political pundits are of the view that it will be difficult for the party to play kingmaker as it does not have a strong cadre base yet.

Earlier this week, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had hinted at a possible alliance with the Jana Sena. In fact, he had also asked Kalyan to join in his fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protect the rights of the state.

Kalyan floated his party in 2014, but did not contest the elections back then, saying it still lacked strong workers at the ground level. In 2014, Kalyan campaigned for the TDP-BJP alliance, sharing stage with Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the relationship grew bitter early in 2018 when Kalyan withdrew support from the TDP and called Naidu’s regime corrupt.

On the other hand, there have been talks that Jagan’s YSRCP could also be eyeing Jana Sena for an alliance ahead of elections.

However, putting all these rumours to rest, the party chief said there was no question of any alliance with either of these parties. And if necessary, the Jana Sena would only join hands with the Left parties in the state.

“It is too early and difficult to say which party (TDP or YSRCP) will be affected with this decision of the Jana Sena. In 2014, they were with the TDP and now they are not. So which vote bank they will be able to divert is too early to estimate,” political analyst Nageshwar Rao told News18.

Women and youth will be one of the top priorities while picking contesting candidates for the upcoming elections, the party said. Kalyan formally kicked off the campaign for the elections at the beginning of the year.