AP Polls 2024: Pawan Kalyan to contest from Pithapuram

Amaravati: Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan announced that he will be contesting from the Pithapuram Assembly constituency for the upcoming state polls in Andhra Pradesh.

In the 2019 elections, Pawan Kalyan was defeated in both Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram Assembly constituencies in AP.

The constituency where he will be contesting was kept in suspense in the last few days. Now that he announced his seat, it is important to see which candidate will the ruling YSRCP announce against Pawan Kalyan. The current YSRCP MLA in Pithapuram is Pandem Dorababu.

YSRCP might stand big hitter against Pawan Kalyan

Speculations are in that the YSRC is planning to change the candidates for this constituency leaving no stone unturned to defeat Pawan Kalyan.

Sources said that Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham, who recently announced that he would be joining the YSRCP, is likely to be given the Pithapuram ticket to fight against Pawan. He and his son are officially joining the party on March 15.

Mudragada is a prominent face of the Kapu community, a predominant community in the East Godavari district. The senior leader has been spearheading a campaign for the last three decades seeking the inclusion of Kapus and their sub-castes into the list of Other Backward Classes.

This year's elections will be Jana Sena Party alliance with TDP and BJP.

A few days ago, the TDP and JSP finalised their seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha and Andhra polls. BJP will contest six Lok Sabha (LS) and 10 Legislative Assembly (LA) seats, Jana Sena will contest in two LS and 21 LA seats, while TDP will field candidates in 17 Parliamentary and 144 Assembly constituencies.

After this announcement, supporters of SVSN Varma, TDP MLA candidate from Pithapuram constituency protested against the decision. The supporters of Varma removed TDP posters and burnt them. Many of them raised concern to immediately allot the seat to Varma.