T'gana municipal polls: PK to campaign

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan will campaign for Jana Sena and BJP candidates in Telangana municipal elections.

The Jana Sena announced on Wednesday that Pawan Kalyan will participate in the campaign on February 7 and 8.

The party said that the Jana Sena and BJP have fielded their candidates in a friendly environment, keeping in view the interests of Telangana and to strengthen themselves at the grassroots level.

The Jana Sena chief will be campaigning in the polls on behalf of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the party said in a statement.

Jana Sena and the BJP are part of the TDP-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is staying away from municipal elections, but both the BJP and Jana Sena are contesting the polls without a formal alliance.

The Telangana BJP had already announced that the party will contest the polls on its own.

Elections to 116 municipalities and seven municipal corporations are scheduled to be held on February 11.

While the BJP has fielded candidates in all urban local bodies, there is no clarity on how many candidates Jana Sena has fielded.

The Jana Sena has not yet announced the municipalities Pawan Kalyan will be covering during his election campaign.

Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao had said last month that the BJP will go it alone in the municipal elections.

He, however, said that the BJP would welcome support from any other party.

The BJP leader's clarification came days after the Jana Sena Party's announcement that it would contest the municipal elections in Telangana.

Ramchander Rao reiterated that the BJP has emerged as an alternative political force in Telangana and needs no alliance with any party to contest the municipal elections.

The TDP is not contesting the municipal elections in Telangana. The party had stayed away from the 2023 Assembly elections. This was the first time in the party's history that it did not contest Assembly polls in Telangana. The party also stayed away from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state.