Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Power Star’ shines bright in seat with prominent groups in his orbit

The hitherto obscure Assembly seat of Pithapuram finds itself suddenly in the limelight. The reason: the entry of JanaSena Party (JSP) chief and superstar K Pawan Kalyan as the candidate from the constituency for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections to be held on May 13.

There is palpable excitement in the area to elect “Power Star”, as Kalyan is known among his fans, to the Assembly. Kalyan, who is up against sitting Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha of the YSRCP, has camped in the constituency over the past few weeks, and his residence as well as the party office are thronged by people. The YSRCP office lies relatively deserted, with barely a few local leaders present.

“He has entertained us for so long on the big screen and now we want him to govern us. Last time, he lost from two seats but this time, Pithapuram will elect him with a huge margin,” says Kalyani, 27, at Uppad Junction of Pithapuram town.

Uppad Junction is dominated by the Matsyakara (fishermen) OBC community, who are second only to the Kapus, who number around 70-75% in the constituency. The Kapus are firmly behind Kalyan, a fellow community member, but the Matsayakaras too see him as one who speaks extensively on their issues. “The Kapus will support Kalyan anyway but among the leaders of other parties, he is the only one who understands our problems and has promised to solve them. The community will firmly stand behind him,” Rama Raju, a Matsyakara community leader, says.

Last November’s harbour fire in Visakhapatnam is also another reason why the community is now firmly behind the JSP chief. “Did any other leader even enquire about those affected by the fire? He was the only one who visited the site and handed out cheques of Rs 50,000. Would it be right not to