Pawan Kalyan’s AP track record worries Telangana BJP leaders

"When he could not do much in AP where he had fairly good support base, how can one expect him to perform well in Telangana where his party hardly has any presence?" a BJP leader said.

Hyderabad: The BJP’s banking on actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party (JSP) founder Pawan Kalyan, who has not had much of a success in his home State of Andhra Pradesh, for winning seats in Telangana is being viewed as a futile exercise by several BJP leaders. In fact, many State BJP leaders are against the proposed poll alliance with the Jana Sena Party.

The BJP leaders argue that expecting miracles from Pawan Kalyan, who had a disastrous electoral debut in Andhra Pradesh, wherein he himself lost from both the Assembly seats he contested, was not correct and that the alliance with his party may prove counterproductive for BJP. “When he could not do much in AP where he had fairly good support base, how can one expect him to perform well in Telangana where his party hardly has any presence?” a BJP leader said.

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The BJP leaders point out that Jana Sena had contested five seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and lost deposits in all of them and expecting the party founder to help BJP to win seats in the upcoming assembly polls did not look practical. Though Pawan Kalyan has a huge fan following in Telangana too, but going by the AP experience, it did not look like the fan following would convert into votes, they said.

But some senior BJP leaders, who are keen to have alliance with Jana Sena, claim that in the areas in and around Hyderabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Medak and Nalgonda that border Andhra Pradesh, the Jana Sena has pockets of influence which could be beneficial for the BJP. Apart from that Pawan Kalyan’s influence as a movie star could prove advantageous to BJP in several seats, especially constituencies in Khammam district, they claim.

Sources in the BJP said that the Jana Sena could be given 5-10 seats in areas where they have influence.