Congress seeks Pawan’s help to campaign in Telangana

Vijayawada: Congress party appears to be seeking the help of Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan in the election campaign for its candidates in Telangana.

According to highly placed sources in Jana Sena, senior Congress leaders like V Hanumantha Rao and Bhatti Vikramarka approached the Jana Sena party president for undertaking election campaign on behalf of their party in Telangana. However, it is not clear whether the Congress leaders have the authority from the party high command to seek Pawan’s help.

Since the Jana Sena is yet to take a decision to contest elections in Telangana, Pawan Kalyan is weighing pros and cons to accept the proposal, sources said. A section of Jana Sena leaders have been bringing pressure on the party to contest elections in Telangana in some pockets.

It is to be noted that Jana Sena party has been contemplating to contest all the 175 Assembly seats and 25 Parliament seats in AP. The Jana Sena chief is thinking what would be the impact in AP if he helped the Congress party in Telangana. His aides worry that it would adversely affect the prospects of the party in AP.

On the other hand, CPM has proposed contesting elections jointly with Jana Sena in Telangana, or at least in the Communist strongholds in Telangana. The CPM and the CPI have already announced alliance with Jana Sena party in the forthcoming elections to Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

In addition to the proposal by Congress leaders, Pawan Kalyan is already enamoured with requests from his close friends in the Congress and even the TRS to help them in the electioneering in Telangana which maybe he could not say no.