Guntur: Actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike to protect the interests of farmers in the AP capital region.
Land issues and political corruption had given a fillip to the Telangana movement for statehood, said the actor, warning the AP government not to repeat the same with the capital region issue.
The Jana Sena chief interacted with many farmers who are unwilling to part with their lands for the new capital to be established under the Land Pooling System (LPS).
Addressing the gathering, Pawan said, “I will speak to the government over the land-pooling process and see that justice is done to all farmers. I, too, want a big capital, but not at the cost of the farmers’ livelihood. I am ready to go on a fast to protect the farmers’ lands.”
“I will speak to ministers Prattipati Pulla Rao and P. Narayana. I will meet the CM after going back to Hyderabad,” he added.
The actor said that he was not against establishing a new capital and farmers willfully offering their lands, but he was against the forceful collection of lands under the Land Acquisition Act.
He said that CM N. Chandrababu Naidu might be planning to build a capital city like Singapore, but there was an urgent need to discuss the necessity of such a big capital.
Pawan Kalyan said now that he had seen the difficulties being faced by the farmers firsthand, he would stay in the capital region for the protection of fertile land and would go on a fast unto death if needed. He pointed out that Mr Naidu was already facing difficulties for implementing the loan waiver and huge funds were needed for the new capital and he did not know how many years it would take without proper investment.
Telugu Desam, BJP give Pawan Kalyan cold reception, fans make up for it
Kalyan, on his tour to Guntur district, had a poor reception at the Gannavaram airport on Thursday morning. No TD or BJP leaders turned up to receive him. The police also did not make heavy security arrangements.
Meanwhile, frenzied fans of the actor disrupted programmes in four places in Guntur district on Thursday. When the actor was interacting with the farmers of Undavalli, an unruly mob barged into the meeting area and tried to get on dais. Therefore, the actor had to interact with the farmers under security.
