Pawan Kalyan comes under attack for his remarks on volunteers

VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan came under attack on Monday from volunteers and others for his “uncharitable remarks” against them. Volunteers staged a state-wide protest and sought a public apology from him.

Pawan Kalyan’s observation was that nearly 30,000 women went missing from AP as per central intelligence reports, and of them, only 14,000 were traced or returned while the whereabouts of the remaining women were not known. He blamed the volunteer system introduced by the Jagan-led YSRC government for such a situation.

Pawan Kalyan stated this during the launch of his second leg of the poll campaign on his Varahi vehicle and addressing a public meeting at Eluru on Sunday. On Monday, in the face of protests, he stood his ground and said he did it in good faith and only wanted to avert an impending danger to society.

At Sunday's meeting, Pawan Kalyan asked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the DGP why they failed to hold a review meeting on such a serious issue so far. PK alleged that each volunteer was collecting information about the family members and in particular about the girls having love affairs and also about widows. They were also collecting information about lonely women and passing on such information to anti-social elements resulting in their trapping, kidnap and human trafficking, he claimed.

Provoked over this, the volunteers hit the roads on Monday, burned Pawan Kalyan’s effigies and demanded a public apology.

YSR Congress state women president Pothula Suneetha lodged a complaint with the DGP to book a case against Pawan Kalyan. She alleged that he was misleading the people with false allegations against the volunteers, who were working for the benefit of the people.  She said Pawan Kalyan was also stirring up caste and communal rivalries through his public speeches.

She condemned Pawan Kalyan’s charge that large numbers of women from the state were missing and demanded an apology to all the volunteers.

Education minister Botsa Satyanarayana condemned the remarks of Pawan Kalyan against the volunteers.

Former minister Perni Venkataramaiah alleged that both Pawan Kalyan and TD chief Chandrababu Naidu were getting nervous about the volunteer system introduced by Jagan Mohan Reddy as it was bringing a good name to the YSRC government.

However, Pawan Kalyan justified his remarks on volunteers by saying that he was talking about those who were committing mistakes and that he was sharing authentic information with the public about an impending danger to society.

Pawan Kalyan said he could not be deterred by a threat of police cases against him.

Maintaining that the volunteers were not government employees, he asked why the information should be shared with them by families and alleged that the volunteers were being made to work for the YSRC.