There is a general talk that whichever party gets the maximum number of seats in the erstwhile combined East and West Godavari districts, it would come to power in Andhra Pradesh.
Both the combined districts account for 34 assembly seats, which is one-fifth of the total number of seats in the Andhra assembly. So, every political party will focus on bagging the maximum number of seats in these districts.
Now, these two districts are going to be a sort of bone contention between Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan, even as ruling YSR Congress party is striving hard to retain its hold in the region.
The TDP has a strong cadre base in these districts and it cannot concede the entire ground to Jana Sena even if there is an alliance.
On the other hand, Pawan Kalyan is said to be very keen on capturing majority seats in these two districts, which are crucial for him if he wants to gain hold over Andhra politics.
Pawan Kalyan has got overwhelming response from the public to his Varahi yatra in East and West Godavari districts. Besides having the frenzied fan following, he also has a strong Kapu vote bank there.
So, he is confident of staging a turnaround this time, if Jana Sena contests majority seats. That is why, he vowed that he would not allow even a single seat for the ruling party.
However, the TDP is also very strong in many parts of the Godavari districts and if Pawan demands maximum number of seats here, it will be a tricky situation for Naidu. If he gives away more seats to the JSP, he would have to face a strong revolt from senior leaders of the party.
It would be interesting to see how the alliance works out between the two parties in the Godavari districts.
