Janasena supremo Pawan Kalyan contested unsuccessfully from Bhimavaram of West Godavari in the 2019. He lost to YSRCP’s Grandhi Srinivas by 8000 votes and ended in second place in a triangular fight. Despite facing a humiliating defeat, Pawan Kalyan frequently made visits to Bhimavaram in the last four years more than any other constituency in the state. He kept in touch with the cadre and the local leaders of the constituency despite his busy affairs.
This made everyone believe that he would once again choose the same seat to contest in the upcoming assembly elections. But, Pawan Kalyan sprung a surprise by not announcing his name in the first list. This left his cadre in confusion and despair because they were very confident of his victory this time. Meanwhile, numerous speculations started to flow out that Pawan might shift out of Bhimavaram and choose the Pithapuram seat as the majority of the voters there belong to the Kapu community.
There is still no clarity even within the Janasena core committee on Pawan Kalyan’s seat. The uncertainty in his constituency is continuing because Pawan has not yet decided to take the brave call. After all, all the hard work done by the cadre in Bhimavaram will go down the drain if he shifts the constituency at the last minute. But, it seems like the fear of defeat is haunting him. He is very desperate to enter the assembly this time. So, he needs to choose a constituency which has sure shot winning chances for Janasena.
Even though Janasena will get ample support in the form of alliance with TDP, Pawan Kalyan still doesn’t want to take any chance as per party sources. So, he is taking his own time to announce the decision.
While both Chandra Babu Naidu and Nara Lokesh announced their seats in the first list and started preparing for the poll battle, Pawan Kalyan allowed his opponents to criticize with his dilatory tactics. The YSRCP wasted no time in claiming that Pawan ran away from Bhimavaram due to the fear of losing as his opponent also belongs to the same community.
On the other side, there are rumours that Pawan Kalyan is mulling to contest as the Member of Parliament. These unconfirmed news reports further started to confuse the cadre because they were unable to understand his strategies and the reasons behind the delay in coming to some decision over his seat.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he will contest from Varanasi. But, Pawan Kalyan is unable to arrive at a consensus with himself over his seat.
As elections are likely to take place in less than two months, Pawan Kalyan should immediately take a call and announce his so that the cadre will heave a sigh of relief and start working for his victory.