Vijayawada: Minutes after he began his symbolic day-long fast, or Dharma Porata Deeksha, on his birthday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu became the target of a series of hostile tweets from Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who seems to have declared open war against the ruling Telugu Desam (TD), and three vernacular news channels.
Pawan claims the reason for his anger is that the channels have involved his mother in “unnecessary controversies” for the sake of “high ratings and political benefits.” Speaking to Deccan Chronicle over the phone, he said, he is contemplating legal action against the channels on charges of “character assassination’’, and asked whether the channels would behave in this manner towards Naidu himself, or Nara Lokesh, Naidu’s son or Lokesh’s father-in-law and TD MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna.
Pawan also warned Naidu to not play with human sentiments, and termed the CM’s Deeksha as ‘irrelevant’ at this juncture. Pawan’s tweets have also questioned the integrity of TD leaders and the channels, for their “double standards” on women. Additionally, Pawan has targeted news channel owner Srini Raju and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, and said the ‘rich and powerful can abuse anyone, they have the luxury’. He added, “An investor who makes money out of slander campaigns and public misery will understand in the days to come what he has done.” On the three vernacular news channels, he said, “They love and die for shows with the highest TRPs, so I will provide the mother of all shows.”
