BJP-Jana Sena alliance makes BJP aspirants uneasy

The BJP's poll alliance with Pawan Kalyan's JSP for the next month's State Assembly elections has created a stir among several BJP ticket aspirants and leaders

Hyderabad: The BJP’s poll alliance with actor-turned politician Pawan Kalyan‘s Jana Sena Party (JSP) for the next month’s State Assembly elections has created a stir among several BJP ticket aspirants and leaders, especially from the Greater Hyderabad limits, as they could lose their chances of a ticket due to the alliance.

Many BJP leaders here argue that since Jana Sena does not have much of a presence in Telangana, there is no point in having a poll alliance with the party. BJP leaders from constituencies where tickets are likely to be allotted to the Jana Sena have already started registering their protest and are even staging demonstrations at the party’s State office.

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Supporters of BJP leader Gajjala Yoganand staged a protest at the BJP State office on Thursday demanding the party high command not to allocate the Serilingampally seat to Jana Sena. With State president G Kishan Reddy reportedly not accepting the arguments of local leaders, several leaders from Qutbullapur, Serilingampally, Jubilee Hills and other constituencies in Greater Hyderabad have started to join the BRS.

The leaders, who were against the alliance, claimed that the move would not benefit the party in any way as the JSP does not have a strong presence in Telangana. In fact, many leaders are of the opinion that if the BJP forged an alliance with JSP, Pawan Kalyan would try to dominate BJP leaders and cadres affecting the coordination among party functionaries.

“JSP has a lot of cadres in AP still the party managed to win only one seat in the 2018 elections. Pawan lost both his seats. What can he do in Telangana where his party has no presence?” a BJP leader asked.

Kishan Reddy and Pawan Kalyan met union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the issue of seat sharing. JSP, a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has already stated that it wants to contest 32 seats in Telangana, mostly in undivided Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Khammam, Medak and Nalgonda districts. BJP has reportedly agreed to give 10 seats to them.

Many of the constituencies where JSP wants to field candidates are in urban areas, especially in and around Hyderabad, including Kukatpally, Uppal, LB Nagar, Malkajgiri, Serilingampally, Medchal, Patancheru, Qutbullapur and Sanathnagar constituencies. All these constituencies have a considerable number of voters of Andhra origin.

Sources said the BJP State leaders do not mind giving seats to JSP in erstwhile Khammam district and a few other places but not in Greater Hyderabad limits.