Jana Sena Party president and power star Pawan Kalyan might be playing to the gallery with his cinematic dialogues and might have appeared aggressive when he announced candidates for two seats in response to the two seats declared by his alliance partner Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
But, according to sources, the power star had completely surrendered to the TDP president during their latest talks on seat sharing held at the Vundavalli residence of Naidu on Sunday.
The TDP chief reportedly offered 25 MLA seats and 3 MP seats, but Pawan Kalyan is learnt to have demanded that the Jana Sena Party be allotted at least 55 assembly seats and eight MP seats.
He told Naidu that his party was expecting at least one MLA seat in every single Parliament constituency, besides five seats each in combined West, East, Krishna, Visakhapatnam, and Prakasam districts.
Sources said Naidu gave a patient hearing to Pawan Kalyan’s charter of demands. And he began bombarding the Jana Sena Party chief with a volley of questions, like who the Jana Sena Party candidates are in the constituencies which are demanded by him.
“He sought to know the credentials, political background, financial status, credibility among the people, support from the caste and winnability of the Jana Sena candidates,” a source said.
Secondly, Naidu also sought to know whether Pawan Kalyan had got any survey done on the winning prospects of his party candidates, vis-à-vis the YSR Congress party candidates in their respective constituencies.
Thirdly, the TDP chief also asked Pawan Kalyan about the vote share of the party in these constituencies in the previous assembly and Lok Sabha elections, whether any study was done on increase of a possible vote share for the party in the coming elections and whether it will be enough to defeat the YSRCP.
Fourthly, he explained the strengths and weaknesses of the TDP and Jana Sena Party candidates in these constituencies and the possibility of their victory in the coming elections.
Finally, he presented the field-level reports obtained from his strategy team – Showtime Consulting and inputs from Prashant Kishor – on the credentials of the TDP and Jana Sena Party ticket aspirants to explain who can win which seat.
“Obviously, Pawan had to put up a blank face as he is not equipped with any big data. He still appears to be under the impression that the people would vote for his party candidates looking at his face, glamour and image, which is not the reality,” sources said.
Naidu reportedly advised Pawan Kalyan to accept the seats where the Jana Sena Party candidates have brighter prospects of winning, instead of asking more, just for the sake of prestige and satisfy the cadre.
Having no other option, Pawan Kalyan reportedly agreed with Naidu’s arguments. He, however, wanted that the TDP chief to concede a respectable number of assembly and Lok Sabha seats, so that there would not be any heartburn among the party cadre.
“It is essential, if there has to be mutual transfer of votes at the grassroots level. After all, we need to convince the leaders and cadre before going ahead,” Pawan reportedly told him.
After a final round of talks a couple of days later, the TDP and Jana Sena Party might announce their seat sharing after February 10, sources added.
