Pawan Kalyan, Telugu actor and founder of Jana Sena Party on Wednesday strongly advised the Telugu Desam Party MPs to spend their energies on getting a special status for Andhra Pradesh rather than attacking him.
Pawan Kalyan, whose recent comments on the ongoing tussle between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana unruffled the feathers on both the sides of the divide, took to microblogging site Twitter on Thursday to retaliate against the TDP MPs.
“By abusing me you will not get the special status for Andhra. Seemandhra MPs show your valour not at me but to the Centre,” he tweeted on Wednesday in an obvious reaction to the criticism of the TDP MPs.
Breaking his long silence over the raging disputes between the two Telugu States, the actor had said that he was opposed to the implementation of Section 8 over Hyderabad. He had also advised the TDP MPs to exert more pressure on the Centre to give special status to AP rather than holding on to Hyderabad.
Reacting sharply to the actor’s stand, TDP MPs including Union Minister SY Chowdary said that the actor need not talk about the Section 8 and insult them.
Pawan had also alleged that the TDP MPs were spending more time in their business related activities than fighting for the cause of Andhra Pradesh. The TDP MPs alleged that Pawan had mortgaged the self respect of Telugu people at the feet of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to protect his own properties in Hyderabad and to ensure his films run smoothly in Telangana. “It is not wrong to do business. Only doing business is wrong,” Pawan quipped in response to the criticism of MPs who also had a diversified business interests.
The actor, known for his aggressive campaign in support of Narendra Modi and TDP in the last lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also angered the supporters of Telangana by demanding CBI inquiry into the alleged telephone tapping of Andhra Pradesh leaders by the Telangana Government. But he remained mum on the alleged bribing of a nominated MlA by TDP. This evoked a threat from Telangana supporters that they will lodge a police complaint against him for hurting their sentiments. Replying to this the actor said, “I am ready to go to jail and face the courts.”
Giving another twist to the entire issue, controversial film director Ramgopal Verma also retorted to the comments of Pawan Kalyan and advised him to “roar like a lion and not as a cat.” Verma also took to Twitter to target the actor. “A roaring lion is meowing like the cat,” he quipped urging the actor not to think too much. “Don’t be cat. As fans we expect a tiger’s roar from you,” he said.
“If a tiger roars after thinking, there will be no meaning in that,” Verma said.