Hyderabad: Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan said on Sunday that he would contest the 2019 elections, When asked how many candidates will be in the fray, he said, “I can’t say now. Once the party becomes strong, I will know,” he said.
Asked if he had learnt from the experience of brother Chir-anjeevi, who merged his Praja Rajyam with the Cong-ress, he said, “I learnt a lot from it and then I floated the Jana Sena. When we started the Praja Rajyam with good values, I worked hard for it. Some party leaders could not digest the loss in the elections and did not give moral support to my brother. They forced him to do that. Otherwise he wanted to continue with the party.”
“That’s the reason I did not contest in the last elections. I want to stand first, I want to see whether I can stand alone even if the people reject me. So I tested myself and that’s the reason I supported the Telugu Desam,” he said.
Asked if he could get accustomed to “dirty” politics, Pawan Kalyan said, “My fans do want me to join politics because they feel it is ‘dirty’. I feel that it’s noble work because in our day to day life everything is connected with politics and politicians. I feel it noble. Some people make it dirty.”
Asked how he would take on Mr Chiranjeevi, he said, “We are in films and do different kind of films. We have never clashed at the box office. Sometimes my film flops and his film becomes a hit and vice versa. In politics our thoughts are different. I believe that the political platform is completely different.”
On talk that Pawan Kalyan wanted to see Mr Chiranjeevi as Chief Minister, and he may join a national party for that, the actor said, “It’s completely wrong. I ha-ve never thought about that. As for me, I don’t know if I can win as a corporator. My only int-erest is raising issues concerning the people.”
He said it would not be possible for him to go along with his brother in one party. “He has chosen his path and he is going to continue with it and I can’t deviate from the path I have chosen. In contemporary politics, leaders change parties, but we are not like that. I res-pect his decision and he accepts my decision, so we will go our own ways in politics,” he said.
