Ahead of next year’s assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Tollywood actor and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday embarked on a visit to temples seeking blessings for his efforts to establish his party’s presence in the state.
According to a Jana Sena Party leader, Pawan will visit at least 32 Lord Narasimha Swamy temples in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in the name of “Anushtup Narasimha Yatra,” starting with Dharmapuri and Nampally in Karimnagar district. “He will cover all the 32 temples over the next few months. This yatra, he believes, will give him power to win the next elections with a good majority,” the party leader said.
On Tuesday, Kalyan performed special prayers at Lord Hanuman temple at Kondagattu in Telangana’s Jagitial district, which he believes is an auspicious place to kick-start any activity. “This place has given me a new lease of life and I always consider it as a big omen,” he told reporters after the visit.
The Jana Sena chief had escaped from a major accident at Kondagattu, when a live wire fell on his vehicle during the 2009 assembly elections in combined Andhra Pradesh when he was part of Praja Rajyam Party, floated by his brother Chiranjeevi.
At Kondagattu temple, Kalyan performed special puja for his newly acquired vehicle “Vaarahi”, which he will be using for his upcoming poll campaign. The temple priests made the actor perform Sankalpa Siddhi puja.
Unconfirmed reports said the Jana Sena Party chief is also contemplating taking part in “Raja Shyamala Yagam,” to be performed in Bhimavaram in West Godavari, in January end. This yagam, a special havan aimed at achieving power, was earlier performed by YSR Congress Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Pawan Kalyan told the reporters at Kondagattu that his party is ready to forge new alliances, but he will talk about them only before the next assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.
“At present, we have an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party. My objective is to see that there is no split in the opposition vote. If the BJP comes along with us, we will fight together. Otherwise, we will have our own plans,” he said. Earlier, Kalyan had held discussions with Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
