Hyderabad: The recent war of words between actor-politician Pawan Kalyan and MPs from the TD-BJP alliance has sent alarm bells ringing through the alliance, forcing saner heads to step in and try to contain the damage by downplaying the controversy.
The reason is simple: votes. A large chunk of Kapu voters backed the TD in the last elections and it is but natural that the TD leadership wants this relationship to continue. A war of words with Pawan Kalyan, who belongs to the Kapu community, will do more harm than good to the TD.
“This is perhaps the reason that the TD leadership has warned party MPs and leaders to adopt the silence mantra over the issue,” said a senior TD leader, on condition of anonymity.
To this end, there were some conciliatory noises. TD leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said Pawan Kalyan was irascible “but a good man at heart.”
The recent days had seen a tit-for-tat battle between the Jana Sena leader, who criticised the ruling party on many counts, and the ruling party, with TD’s Union minister Y. Sujana Chowdary, party MPs Kesineni Srinivas, K. Narayana, and BJP’s Gokaraju Gangaraju reacting to the actor’s criticism, and even questioned his sincerity.
Following this, Jana Sena activists staged protests across the state and burnt effigies of the MPs, particularly targeting Mr Srinivas.
Differences between the families of Mr Srinivas and K. Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan’s brother, had been well documented, having begun during the days of the Praja Rajyam.
Later, Pawan Kalyan had opposed Mr Srinivas’ candidature and unsuccessfully recommended industrialist Potluri Varaprasad for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat.
