VIJAYAWADA: The busy Benz Circle junction in the city was painted red on Friday with the activists of Left parties and Jana Sena swarming the road right from 9 a.m to walk with Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. It was the actor-turned-politician’s maiden protest on the streets demanding Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.
By the time Pawan reached the starting point of the walkathon at 10.30 a.m after paying floral tributes to Ambedkar’s statue near Tummalapalli Kalakshetram, the crowd erupted in joy and surrounded his vehicle, making it difficult for him to get down.Finally, when Pawan managed to alight from the vehicle, Benz Circle reverberated with the actor’s fans chanting, “CM, CM, CM..” Just about the same time, the JSP chief yelled out to the frenzied fans through the public announcement system, “My name is Pawan Kalyan.”
As the JSP president started his padayatra, euphoria spilled onto the 4-km stretch between Benz Circle and Ramavarappadu, with fans and admirers lining up along the road to catch a glimpse of the actor-turned-politician.While Pawan Kalyan patiently waved to the gathering, those who joined the walkathon -- mostly youngsters in the 18-24 age group -- rallied behind him. Initially, Pawan Kalyan felt a little uncomfortable due to sweltering heat and humidity, but recovered later.
“Injustice was done to Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation,” he said, after reaching Ramavarappadu. By then, the public had already gathered there in large numbers.“While the assets have gone to Telangana, AP is left with debts,” he said, drawing loud cheers.He ended his speech with ‘Jai Andhra, Jai Hind’ before concluding the padayatra.
Highway traffic came to a grinding halt on account of the walkathon of JSP and Left parties from Benz Circle to the Ramavarappadu Ring Road.
State secretary of CPM P Madhu, said, “We went to the all-party meeting held a few weeks ago. We made it clear to Naidu that TDP was equally responsible as the BJP for problems faced by the State.”
CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna slammed Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for ‘misleading’ the people. “He even used his two-day Delhi visit for publicity,” he said.