Vijayawada: The suspense over where Jana Sena chief K. Pawan Kalyan would contest the state elections from was cleared on Tuesday with the party deciding to field him from two Assembly constituencies — Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram.
Jana Sena leaders said that the people of Gajuwaka had showered their love on Mr Kalyan during his tour and had requested him to contest from the constituency in Visakhapatnam district. He has had a long association with north Andhra and has strongly spoken about the need for development after witnessing the backwardness of the region during his Praja Porata Yatra.
Explaining why Mr Kalyan had also picked the Bhimavaram Assembly constituency in West Godavari district, a Jana Sena leader said he had stayed there for 10 days during his yatra and had meetings with students, women and youth. They brought issues that were left unresolved of decades to the notice of Mr Kalyan and asked him to contest from the constituency.
It may be recalled that Mr Kalyan’s brother Chiranjeevi had also contested from two seats in 2009 at the head of the Prajya Rajyam party that he had founded. Mr Chiranjeevi lost from the Palakoke constituency in West Godavari district by about 5,000 votes to Ms B Usha Rani of the Congress but won from Tirupati by beating Mr B. Karunakar Reddy of the Congress by 10,800 votes.
The JS leaders said Mr Kalyan wanted to contest from Anantapur in Rayalaseema and Itchapuram of Srikakulam in north Andhra but the general body had opposed the proposal as the electioneering system of the party was not developed in the constituencies.
