Somu Veerraju meets Pawan Kalyan to clear ‘misunderstanding’

VIJAYAWADA: Two days after Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said that there was a ‘gap in the understanding’ with the BJP at the state-level with regard to Tirupati parliamentary by-polls, chief of state BJP unit Somu Veerraju met the former in Hyderabad on Sunday to clear misunderstanding. With fissures evident in the alliance, both the parties have decided to sit for another round of talks to arrive at a consensus before the final meeting with the saffron party’s central leadership in New Delhi.

While a consensus is yet to be reached “officially” by both the parties on which party should field its candidate to fight the election,  Somu, after meeting Pawan, said, “We have discussed the Tirupati bypoll. It is not important which party would contest the elections as the candidate will be backed by both the parties. Our aim is that the BJP-Jana Sena alliance forms government in 2024, and we are considering Tirupati Lok Sabha by-election as the foundation for it.” He added that both of them discussed ways to strengthen the alliance without any gaps in communication. 

It may be recalled that Pawan Kalyan, after his party’s meeting in Tirupati late last week, said that the party cadre were of the opinion that BJP was ‘disregarding’ Jana Sena. He said that the understanding that he has with the national leadership of the BJP was lacking at the state-level. He, however, attributed the communication gap to COVID-19 disruption.