VIJAYAWADA: Senior Kapu leader and former minister Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah wrote an open letter stressing the need for the Jana Sena Party to seek 40 to 60 seats as part of an alliance with the TDP in the ensuing elections and also for Pawan Kalyan to get the chief minister post for two-and-a-half years. He was of the opinion that such an arrangement would ensure better cooperation and coordination between the two parties at a lower cadre level. Jogaiah said on Pawan Kalyan’s invitation, he went to the latter’s office in Mangalagiri on Thursday and discussed several issues for nearly two hours, including seat sharing with TDP and a common manifesto.
He said the inclusion of the BJP in the alliance was emphasised during the meeting and the suitable seats for the JSP to contest were discussed at length.“In the 2019 elections, the seats where JSP bagged more than 10,000 votes were 61 and the ones where it was 15,000 votes were 40. Going by this, it was advisable for the JSP to ask for 40 to 60 seats. Pawan Kalyan said that he would ensure to get not less than 40 seats keeping socio-economic equations in mind,” he explained.
The former minister, who now heads Kapu Sankshema Sena, said the Kapu community desires to see Pawan Kalyan as the Chief Minister and this desire was openly expressed by not just community leaders but also supporters of JSP and Pawan Kalyan’s followers on several occasions. “Pawan assured that power-sharing will be done in a manner befitting the prestige of JSP and clarity on the issue will emerge in the coming days,” he said.
Jogaiah said he suggested Pawan Kalyan contest from Narasapuram, which has been the native place of the Konidela family and the second place should be Bhimavaram, which lost in 2019.“As the very purpose of JSP forming the alliance is to prevent a split in the anti-incumbency vote, getting the BJP onboard of the alliance express is a must,” he opined.