Jana Sena party president Pawan Kalyan is upping the ante by taking an independent line on issues affecting common people, particularly the working class. That’s the impression one gets when he started taking interest in an agitation launched by workers of the Vizag-based Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL).

Nearly 1500 workers of the public sector unit have been agitating for more than a week objecting to the Central government’s plan to sell off its majority stake in the corporation. The workers fear, once the company goes into private hands, many of them may lose jobs and its headquarters may be shifted to Mumbai. They feel that the state government is not exerting enough pressure on the Centre to stop privatisation and whoever takes up the cudgels for them are being invited with open hands.

Pawan who has been trying to project himself as a mass leader has assured them he would write a letter to the Centre against its move. He has even dissuaded the agitating workers from going on an indefinite hunger strike. His ready-to-step-in attitude has got him many admirers.

The rebel star’s foray into working classes’ problems is a sign that he is crafting his strategies carefully to face the election battle in 2019.