It is now official. Bharatiya Janata Party is going to contest the forthcoming by-elections to the Tirupati parliamentary seat, likely to be held in April.
And Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, who had hitherto been giving an impression that his party would contest the by-polls, finally succumbed to the pressures from the BJP high command.
BJP in-charge of Andhra Pradesh V Muralidharan on Friday announced that the BJP candidate would contest the Tirupati by-polls with the support of Jana Sena.
“A decision to this effect was taken jointly by Pawan Kalyan and BJP state president Somu Veerraju,” he said, adding that the BJP will begin its victory march from Tirupati itself.
Earlier, Somu Veerraju, along with BJP co-incharge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Sunil Deodhar, had a meeting with Pawan Kalyan and his deputy Nadendla Manohar and discussed the Tirupati by-elections issue.
The BJP leaders conveyed the intentions of the party national leadership to Jana Sena leaders and told them that there was no option for them but to support to the BJP candidate. It is not exactly known what promises the BJP leadership had given to Jana Sena chief.
Later, the state BJP said the candidate for the Tirupati by-polls would be decided by the party Central Election Committee and announced shortly.
