Film star-turned-politician and founder of Jana Sena Party (JSP) Pawan Kalayan lambasted the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in the name of deeksha in support of striking Visakhapatnam Steel Plant employees.
Pawan Kalyan Deeksha
It is surprising that JSP chief has decided to attack YSRCP government and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, while the decision to privatise the steel company came from Bharatiya Janata Party led union government.
Pawan Kalyan sat in protest against the centre’s move to privatise Vizag Steel. The employees of the steel plant have been protesting against the move for over 300 days now. Instead of going to the Port city and expressing his solidarity the JSP chief decided to sit in protest for deeksha in his own office from morning to evening.
One of the reasons for protesting against privatisation of Vizag Steel in Mangalagiri, he said, is that T Amrutha Rao, whose fast led to creation of Vizag Steel, was former MLA of Tadikonda in Guntur district. Indeed a great logic!
After holding one-day deeksha at Mangalagiri’s party office on Sunday, he held a meeting and spoke against the ruling Jagan government in the state. He said, “When problems arise in AP, people remember Jana Sena! They want Jana Sena to come to their rescue.” He alleged that the 22 YSRCP MPs have no guts to hold placards demanding rollback of Vizag Steel Plant privatisation. Pawan Kalyan said it is the responsibility of the YSRCP to ensure Vizag Steel is not privatised. He asked the state government to lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to prevail upon the Union government to reconsider its decision.
In the same breath he also blamed the people for the present situation in the state. He accused, “During elections, they vote for YSRCP by taking Rs 2,000 per vote. Large numbers of people come to my meetings, but they don’t vote for me. People elected just one JSP MLA in 2019 Assembly elections, YSRCP poached even that lone MLA with the lure of money. I want to work for AP and its people sincerely and committedly. But without people’s support I am very weak in Assembly and Parliament.”
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The JSP chief targeted YSRCP government during most of his speech and said Jagan government has no sincerity in its claims to give capital status to Kurnool. “It did not even give proper respect to Damodaram Sanjeevaiah from Kurnool, who in his short tenures as CM introduced long-lasting welfare schemes to benefit the poor and downtrodden,” he said.
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