VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday announced that he would form a Joint Action Committee (JAC) to fight for the cause of the state and found fault with both the State government and the Centre for different reasons.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, he said he intends to form a JAC and take on board leaders like Undavalli Arun Kumar, Jayaprakash Narayan, and others to fight for the cause of the state in an apolitical manner.
The Jana Sena chief said at the time of bifurcation the UPA government did injustice to the state. “I took the issues to the notice of Narendra Modi at that in Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat. He was sympathetic to our cause,” he said explaining his reason for supporting Modi and NDA at that time.
Pawan Kalyan said he had explained to Modi how the state was divided in an irrational manner and how it suffered. “Narendra Modi has inherited the legacy to do justice to the state through special category status and other provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act. Special Category Status was even mentioned in the BJP manifesto,” he said.
However, when even after one-and-a half years, the promises were not kept and when they started backing out on special category status giving different definitions, Jana Sena took up the issue in Tirupati and Kakinada, he said. “Thereafter, a special package was offered, stating it was equal to special status, which even Chandrababu Naidu, who has vast political experience, welcomed,” he said.
“However, there has been consistent confusion about the benefits of the special package,” he added said.
Pawan Kalyan said his voice after Kakinada meeting got stifled and there is no clarity as to what is the share of Andhra Pradesh in the budget. “I felt the time has come to take up the issue in an apolitical manner on the lines of Telangana JAC. I decided to form a common platform, JAC with likes of Undavalli Arun Kumar, Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta and others,” he said.
Reacting to Pawan Kalyan’s plans to set up JAC and invite him to join, former Congress MP Undavalli Arun Kumar confirmed receiving phone call from the actor asking him to join the fight for special category status for AP. Arun Kumar said he would meet the actor on February 11 in Hyderabad.
Jana Sena party chief said people started losing their trust in the ruling TDP and when an agency had certified that the state as corrupt, he felt very saddened. He said there are shortcomings on the part of Central Government at the same time there are lapses on the part of the state government. “Central Government people say funds are being allocated, but there are no utilization certificates from the state,” he said.