Pawan Kalyan asserts dominance, appoints in-charges for Assembly seats where TDP has strength

Apart from appointing in-charges, Pawan Kalyan is also getting ready to induct a YSRCP leader — who has an eye on an Assembly segment in the Visakhapatnam district, which is a bastion of a senior TDP leader — into the Jana Sena.

These political developments are being seen as an assertion by Pawan Kalyan to the TDP that he would have the final say on seat-sharing if the two parties get into an alliance.

And it’s not just the numbers: Pawan Kalyan wants the seats of his choice.

Also read: Jana Sena-TDP alliance all but sealed

The appointments

Pawan Kalyan appointed Thangella Uday Srinivas, Battula Balaramakrishna, and TV Rama Rao as in-charges of the Pithapuran, Rajanagaram, and Kovvur segments.

All these constituencies are in the Godavari region, where Pawan Kalyan’s strength lies due to the concentration of Kapus, the community to which the actor-turned-politician belongs.

He handed over appointment letters to the new in-charges in person at the party’s state headquarters in Magalagiri two days ago.

In the Pithapuram segment, TDP candidate SVSN Varma polled 68,470 votes in the 2019 polls, but lost to the YSRCP’s Pandem Dorababu, who secured 83,459 votes. Jana Sena candidate Makineedi Seshukumari polled only 28,011 votes.

In Kovvur, YSRCP candidate Taneti Vanitha won polling 79,892 votes, defeating the TDP’s Vangalapudi Anita, who polled 54,644 votes. Anitha is considered a firebrand woman-leader of the TDP.

In this constituency, the Jana Sena-backed BSP candidate Thamabalapalli Ravi Kumar polled just 11,677 votes. The in-charge now appointed by Pawan Kalyan was once a TDP MLA.

In the Rajanagaram segment, the YSRCP’s Jakkampudi Raja won with 90,680 votes in 2019, defeating the TDP’s Pendurthi Venkatesh, who polled 50,680 votes.

In all three segments, the TDP candidates are aspiring to contest again — or the TDP leadership thinks that its nominee has a chance to win and doesn’t want to lose the seats to the ally.

జనసేన పార్టీ కోసం ఓ సైనికుడిలా పనిచేస్తా

శ్రీ @PawanKalyan గారిని మర్యాదపూర్వకంగా కలిసిన శ్రీ పంచకర్ల రమేష్ బాబు

ఈ నెల 20వ తేదీన పార్టీలో చేరిక

Link: https://t.co/Kw0Aew8aLs pic.twitter.com/7QhU2NYkGz

— JanaSena Party (@JanaSenaParty) July 16, 2023

Churn in AP: Pawan Kalyan, Naidu call for joint Opposition vs YSRCP

Ramesh Babu joins Jana Sena

The YSRCP Visakhapatnam district president Panchakarla Ramesh Babu quit the ruling party and met Pawan Kalyan two days ago, with the announcement that he was going to formally join the Jana Sena on 20 July.

Ramesh Babu entered politics in 2009 and contested from the Pendurthi Assembly constituency, winning on a ticket from the Praja Rajyam Party, founded by Pawan Kalyan’s brother Chiranjeevi.

However, after the polls, he was compelled to join the Congress when the Praja Rajyam Party merged with the grand old party.

Just before the 2014 polls, he had joined the TDP and won from the Yelamanchali segment. However, he lost in the 2019 polls and quit the TDP and joined the YSRCP in 2020.

Since Ramesh Babu first contested from Pendurthy in 2009 and thinks his strength lies in that segment, he has been aspiring to contest from there again — but this time on a Jana Sena ticket.

Penduthy has been a bastion of senior TDP leader Bandar Satyanarayana Murthy and his family.

Bandaru Satyanarayana has represented the segment in the past. In the 2024 polls, either he or his son could be a candidate from Pendurthy.