Jana Sena, TDP to jointly fight AP, Telangana polls

Rajamahendravaram: Hitting out at the YSRCP, Tollywood star and Jana Sena Party president K Pawan Kalyan on Thursday announced an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party.

After calling on TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu at the Central Prison here, where he has been lodged after his arrest in the Rs 371-crore skill development scam case, he said they will put up candidates jointly in Telangana Assembly polls due in next few months.

Flanked by actor and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna and TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Lokesh, he told the media outside the jail that a person of Naidu’s stature, who brought Bill Gates and Microsoft to Hyderabad and initiated the development of Cyberabad has been arrested and put in jail by the YSRCP Government. “Time has come for a united operation to put an end to YSRCP’s misrule,” he declared.

Pawan Kalyan hoped that BJP will also join them. “I being part of NDA have been telling the leadership on the need for a joint fight and I am hoping that they will take a positive decision on this,” he said. The actor said they are not in a position to fight against YSRCP on their own. “The people gave a spectacular majority to the YSRCP in the last elections. I would have saluted Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had he ensured good governance. Instead, he is indulging in vendetta politics,” he said. “They deployed 2,000 policemen to detain me on Andhra-Telangana so as to prevent me from meeting Naidu immediately after his arrest on Saturday,” he pointed out.

Earlier, the JSP founder had a mulaquat with the former Chief Minister along with Balakrishna and Lokesh. JSP at present is a member of NDA. Pawan has been underlining the need for a contest by a united operation including BJP to dislodge YSRCP from power in general elections due in 2024. BJP has remained non-committal on alliance with the TDP, which walked out of NDA in 2018.

The JSP leader, who supported the TDP and the BJP combine from outside in 2014, had opted to contest the elections with the support of Left parties and BSP in 2019. He met Naidu last year in October and resolved to fight unitedly against the YSRCP Government after he was declined police permission to hold Janavani roadshow in Visakhapatnam.

Reacting to the declaration on the alliance, the ruling YSRCP through a tweet on X said Pawan Kalyan had ditched his fans and party members by deciding to contest with the TDP.

YSRCP leaders at separate press conferences took strong exception to announcement of alliance after mulaquat and said Pawan Kalyan should not have taken his fans for a ride by deciding to forge an alliance with the TDP for getting a few seats.