Vijayawada: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan campaign for BJP in Karnataka unlikely

Vijayawada : Will Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan campaign for BJP candidates in the constituencies where Telugu population is in large numbers? Sources say the chances are remote.

The BJP is pinning hopes on utilising the popularity of Pawan Kalyan as a film actor in about 40 Assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts in Karnataka where Telugu voters can influence the election results particularly when it is a wave-less election and every seat faces a cut-throat competition. Even a few thousand votes can decide the fate of the candidates.

Telugus are the third largest ethnic group in Karnataka. About 20% of Karnataka's population is estimated to be Telugu speaking and Telugu is the third most spoken language in Karnataka after Kannada and Urdu. Several districts in Karnataka have close connections with Andhra Pradesh. The districts where Telugu population is in sizeable numbers are Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Ballari, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bidar, Bengaluru City and Bengaluru Rural.

The four districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Kolar and Ballari have a significant share of about 30% Telugu voters. While Bangalore Urban and Rural, have 49% and 65% Telugu-speaking population, respectively, the figures for Kolar, Bellary and Raichur are 76%, 63% and 64%, respectively. Even Bengaluru, which accounts for 28 seats, has over 25 lakh Telugu voters.

In the backdrop of this situation, the BJP believed campaign by Pawan Kalyan would be advantageous. Party leader GVL Narasimha Rao on Thursday maintained that the alliance between the BJP and Jana Sena was intact.

But the recent developments indicate that all is not well between the two parties.

Pawan who feels that to ensure the defeat of the ruling YSRCP, Opposition votes should not split and hence he is in favour of Jana Sena, BJP and TDP arriving at some understanding.

Recently, he even went to New Delhi to meet the top leadership of the BJP but still there has been no positive indication from them. Miffed over this, Pawan has been keeping himself away from the BJP. He had also told the central BJP leadership how AP BJP leaders had never consulted him on any issue. Pawan is at present busy in back-to-back shooting of his new films.

It is being said that BJP Yuva Morcha leader and MP Tejaswi Surya who is an important leader of the BJP in Bengaluru met Pawan twice and asked him to campaign for the party in Karnataka. Jana Sena however denied this. Even during 2018 elections, Pawan stayed away from campaign in Karnataka.