Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy and BJP OBC Morcha National President Dr K Laxman took up damage control exercise to placate a peeved Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan on Friday, after the latter was brushed aside by State party chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar earlier.
Due to Sanjay’s haughty attitude towards Pawan Kalyan, the JSP has to contend itself playing a supportive role to the BJP in the GHMC elections. The JSP has an alliance with the BJP in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and was hoping for a similar arrangement in Telangana. But, Sanjay refused to meet with Pawan Kalyan on Thursday and is reported to have even made disparaging remarks against the actor-turned-politician.
Coming out of the meeting with Kishan Reddy and Laxman, the JSP chief declared that his party will support the BJP in the GHMC elections.
Pawan Kalyan, who was supposed to field his party candidates under an alliance with the BJP, has now asked his cadre to withdraw their nominations in favour of the BJP. He urged them not to get disheartened and support the BJP candidates. The joint statement was that both the parties would continue with the joint efforts in future elections of Telangana State.
“The talks between our parties failed to take off because of the lockdown and then because of the floods in the city. With the State Election Commission declaring the elections to the GHMC all of a sudden, we had no time to give a final shape to our talks,” Pawan Kalyan said.
Welcoming the JSP decision, Kishan Reddy said people of Telangana want a change and they have dropped enough indications of this by electing a BJP candidate in Dubbak Assembly constituency. “People of the city want a flood-free and corruption-free Hyderabad. Jana Sena has agreed to work with us on the development agenda,” he said.
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