HYDERABAD: The YSR Congress Party and the Jana Sena are unlikely to contest the Telangana Assembly elections but are expected to call upon Telangana voters to defeat the ‘grand alliance’ of Congress, TDP and other parties.
Though the leaderships of both the parties have not announced their stand on Telangana elections so far, their likely appeal for defeat of the grand alliance will help the TRS in the December 7 elections.
Both YSRCP and Jana Sena are not on good terms with the Congress or TDP in Andhra Pradesh. So YSRCP and Jana Sena cannot support either of the parties in Telangana. This is the reason they are likely to give a call to Telangana voters to defeat the Grand Alliance, sources in the two parties explained.
According to sources, neither the YSRCP nor the Jana Sena will contest the Telangana elections. The YSRCP has a good number of supporters in Telangana, especially among AP-origin voters, thanks to the implementation of several welfare schemes by the then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
“As Jagan Mohan Reddy is focusing entirely on AP, his party may not contest in Telangana. If the party fails to win any seat here, it will have an adverse impact on the AP Assembly elections,” a functionary of YSRCP told Express. Though there is demand for YSRCP ticket for around 20 Assembly seats in
Telangana, the party may not field its candidates.
Same is the case with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena. The actor is expected to appeal to TS voters to defeat the Grand Alliance. However, according to party insiders, Jana Sena leaders are keen to contest 20 to 22 Assembly seats in Telangana.
“Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan has not taken any decision so far on contesting Telangana Assembly elections or not. The party may discuss the matter and announce its decision in a couple of days,” party general secretary Madasu Gangadharam said. As in the case of YSRCP, the Jana Sena too is focusing on Andhra Pradesh elections.
The leadership thinks that if it contests in Telangana and comes a cropper, the poor show would impact the party in AP elections, the sources said.
KTR pats Pawan?
The grapevine has it that Telangana IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao called up Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday and congratulated him on the grand success of the Kavathu programme held on the bridge across Godavari river in AP. Neither Jana Sena nor TRS officially confirmed this. It may be recalled here that Kalyan in the recent past called on TRS chief KCR and lauded his government’s welfare programmes