VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, during his Vaarahi Yatra, had assured several supporters of a party ticket. But after forging an alliance with the TDP, all those promises got swept away in vote-sharing calculations. Several party workers were left red-faced once the candidates were announced as leaders who had recently switched over from other parties to the JSP were nominated.
After announcing that his party would contest 24 Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats, Pawan Kalyan took a step back after reaching an agreement with BJP and decided to contest only 21 MLA seats and two Lok Sabha seats.
After the ‘IVR Survey,’ the candidates were finalised and the initial list of five candidates was included in the list of 18 candidates released later. For the two Lok Sabha seats—Kakinada and Machilipatnam— the party has nominated Uday Srinivas Tangella, an entrepreneur-turned-politician who started his political career with JSP, from Kakinada, while for Machilipatnam seat, Vallabhaneni Balashowry, the incumbent from the segment who shifted to JSP from YSRC, was given a ticket.
Later, the JSP chief changed the candidature of Railway Koduru and named Arava Sridhar as the new JSP candidate in place of Yanamala Bhaskar Rao. Sridhar has TDP roots and joined JSP a few days before his candidature was announced.
Former deputy speaker and TDP leader Mandali Buddha Prasad was made the candidate for Avanigadda. He had joined the JSP just three days before his candidature was announced. Mandali’s nomination came as a shock to Vikruthi Srinivas who was aspiring for the ticket. Vizag South candidate Vamsi Krishna Yadav was a YSRC MLC before he joined Jana Sena three months ago.
Similarly, Arani Srinivasulu, who was a YSRC MLA from Chittoor, but not considered by that party, shifted his loyalties to JSP and was given a ticket to contest from Tirupati. Kontala Ramakrishna, a former minister, recently joined JSP and will contest as a candidate from Anakapalle. Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, who changed allegiance from TDP to YSRC, joined JSP last year and is now contesting from Pendurthi. Ramanjaneyulu Pulaparthi (Anjibabu), who contested against Pawan Kalyan on a TDP ticket for Bhimavaram Assembly seat in 2019, joined JSP recently and was made the party candidate from Bhimavaram.
Nimmaka Jaya Krishna of TDP, who joined JSP is expecting a ticket to contest the Palakonda Assembly constituency.
Recently, on the first day of his three-day campaign in Pithapuram Pawan Kalyan admitted that the poll pact had left several of his own party leaders disheartened. “But they have sacrificed their seats with a big heart for the greater good of the State,” he said.
A senior leader from the Left party, who worked with JSP during the 2019 elections, pointed out that what happened during 2019, seems to have been repeated once again. Out of 21 candidates, eight have come from other parties to JSP recently.