Andhra polls 2024: It's Ram Gopal Varma vs Pawan Kalyan at Pithapuram
The actor and the director have often got into a war of words in the past, with Varma being known for his digs at the “Power Star”
The Pithapuram Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh seems set for a dramatic fight, with filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma announcing his decision to contest the seat against Tollywood star and Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan.
Varma made a sudden announcement on X on Thursday (March 14) that he would contest the seat. Interestingly, his brief tweet came minutes after the BJP-TDP-JSP alliance declared that Pawan Kalyan would be fielded from Pithapuram. The actor and the director have often got into a war of words in the past, with Varma being known for his digs at the “Power Star”.
“SUDDEN DECISION..Am HAPPY to inform that I am CONTESTING from PITHAPURAM,” read Varma’s tweet.
Pawan Kalyan’s track record
Pawan Kalyan announced his candidacy at a public meeting earlier in the day. YSR Congress Party’s Pendem Dorababu is the sitting MLA of Pithapuram.
Pawan Kalyan’s party finalised a seat-sharing deal with the BJP and Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections only a few days back.
Of the 175 Assembly seats in Andhra, the TDP will contest 144, JSP will contest 21, while the BJP will contest 10. The Andhra polls will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
Pawan Kalyan launched the JSP in 2014 but did not fight the polls that year. Instead, he supported the TDP-BJP alliance and helped it come to power. In 2019, he tested waters by going it alone, but the JSP won only one Assembly seat. The actor lost both the Assembly seats he contested to YSRCP candidates.