Intel alert forces Pawan Kalyan to cancel Bapatla visit
VIJAYAWADA: Actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena, which had earlier cancelled its three-day programme in Chittoor district, has now decided not to go ahead with a planned felicitation of Ragala Venkat Rahul, weightlifter who won the gold medial at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games, on April 30 at Bapatla in Guntur district. In a release, the party cited intelligence inputs from the State police that some vested interests had hatched a conspiracy to trigger violence at the star's programmes as the reason for its decision.
"Intelligence officials alerted us about a conspiracy to defame the party by triggering violence of the kind witnessed during the Kapu quota stir at Tuni in February, 2016. This was why the party decided to cancel the programmes in Chittoor and Guntur districts," it said. Earlier, as per schedule, Pawan was to interact with victims of land acquisition in Settipalli and people affected by the construction of a highway in Chittoor on April 21, 22 and 23. On April 30, he was supposed to take part in a rally from Stuartpuram to Bapatla in Guntur district and attend a felicitation programme of Rahul.
Pawan, who held a meeting with his party leaders on Thursday, told them that none could come in the way of his decision to meet people and directed them to chalk out plans for his district tours. "I will tour the districts to highlight major issues, failure of the Telugu Desam government on the development front and the need for securing special category status to the State," he said.
The party has formed different committees to ensure his tours are peaceful. It is likely to announce his travel schedule in two or three weeks.