Vijayawada: It’s not a cakewalk for Pawan in Pithapuram

Vijayawada : In search of his maiden electoral victory, Jana Sena Party leader and actor Pawan Kalyan faces a tough fight against seasoned politician Vanga Geetha of the ruling YSRCP in Pithapuram Assembly constituency.

The constituency in Kakinada district is expected to see a fierce battle for supremacy as YSRCP is going all out to stop Pawan Kalyan from entering the Assembly.

The actor-politician, whose party has an electoral alliance with the TDP and the BJP, is confident of finally making it to the Assembly.

The YSRCP has fielded Vanga Geetha, the sitting MP from the Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency. Pithapuram is one of the Assembly segments under the Kakinada constituency.

Power star, as Pawan Kalyan is popularly known, has been campaigning in Pithapuram for more than one-and-a-half months, conducting road shows. His nephew and actor Varun Tej also joined the high-octane campaign late last month by holding a road show.

In an apparent move to counter his political rivals, who brand him an outsider for the constituency, Pawan Kalyan has bought a home in the town and announced that he would actually reside in the town to be close to the people and work for their development.

The Jana Sena leader has also promised to promote temple tourism in the constituency at a cost of Rs 300 crore with the development of the ancient Kukkuteswara temple as ‘Mini Kashi’ along with the Puruhutika temple, one of the 18 Shakti Pithas of the country. He has also assured the fishermen community that he would work to solve their problems. The YSRCP leaders are also running an aggressive door-to-door campaign in the constituency, which has about 3 lakh voters.

Vanga Geetha, a seasoned leader of the region, is banking on the popularity of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the welfare schemes implemented by the YSRCP government during the last five years. The ruling party is seeking a fresh mandate to continue the schemes.

Interestingly, Geetha was elected MLA from Pithapuram in 2009 on the ticket of PRP, which was launched by Pawan Kalyan’s elder brother and superstar K. Chiranjeevi.

A native of the same district, Vanga Geetha began her political journey in the early 1990s with the TDP. She served as chairperson of East Godavari district Zilla Parishad. She served as a Rajya Sabha member from 2000 to 2006.

When PRP merged with Congress, she became a member of Congress. She joined the YSRCP just before the 2019 elections and was elected to Lok Sabha on the party ticket from Kakinada.

Pawan Kalyan has apparently chosen Pithapuram as the constituency has a majority of voters from Kapu, a community to which he belongs. However, Vanga Geetha is also a Kapu.

Jana Sena leaders, however, say their party chief is not banking on Kapu votes alone as he never confined his politics to one caste.

In a boost to Pawan Kalyan’s campaign, his elder brother Chiranjeevi has appealed to Pithapuram voters to elect Jana Sena leader. In a video message, Chiranjeevi said that Pawan Kayan entered films under compulsion but willingly entered into politics.

“My younger brother thinks more about people than about himself. Everybody says he will do something for people after coming to power but Pawan Kalyan spent his own money to wipe out the tears of tenant farmers, donated generously to jawans guarding our borders and helped fishermen. When we see all this, we feel that people need a leader like him,” said Chiranjeevi. For Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Pithapuram election is a prestige issue. The ruling party is deploying all available resources to defeat Pawan Kalyan, a bitter critic of the YSRCP chief.