Penumaka  (Guntur ):

A new hero is born in Andhra politics. Telugu film star Pawan Kalyan, who made foray into politics by floating a new outfit, Jana Sena (people’s army), during the last general polls and campaigned for the victory of the TDP-BJP combine at that time, now seems to have decided to tread on his own path to emerge as a people’s leader on the political spectrum of Andhra Pradesh.

Late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is also the YSRC president, started losing his sheen after his party’s debacle in the last general polls. Eying 2019 general polls, Kalyan, the younger brother of actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi, has begun seizing every opportunity to transform himself into a mass leader. As there is a feeling among YSRC leaders that their party chief might have to go to jail sooner or later in connection with corruption charges since a CBI Special Court has decided to fast-track the ongoing trial on the assets’ case against Jagan, the Jana Sena boss is understood to be aiming at filling the political vacuum, which is likely to be created in Andhra Pradesh in the coming days.

Kalyan, whom his fans call ‘power star’ for his power-packed on-screen fights and high-voltage dialogues in Telugu action thrillers, seems to have grabbed the opportunity of utilising the highly emotive issue of farmers asserting their right on their agricultural fields in the Andhra Pradesh’s new capital region where the TDP government is trying to construct an ultra-modern capital city by destroying fertile farm lands.

The actor-turned-politician has even outwitted TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu with his recent political moves by winning over farmers in the state’s new capital region. His recent tour across Vijayawada and stern warning issued to the ruling TDP government in the state against invoking Land Acquisition Act to take fertile agricultural lands from the local farmers for the construction of the new capital city, Amaravati, pushed the TDP government into corner. State Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana has made it clear that the state government dropped its decision to invoke Land Acquisition Act as per the advice given by Kalyan.

Earlier, for the second time in the recent past, the actor-turned-politician, who says he likes Che Guevara, Martin Luther King and Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan, in his bid to project himself as the ‘saviour’ of agriculturists, visited some villages in Guntur district recently to express solidarity with the agitating farmers in the new capital region, who were opposing the TDP government’s move to take their fertile lands for the construction of the Amaravati. In a true filmy style, the actor warned the TDP government, saying, “Don’t snatch fertile lands from small farmers. Stop the land acquisition process immediately. We don’t need a capital city that is built on the tears of farmers. I am ready to launch indefinite fast if the government fails to withdraw the land acquisition notification.” According to sources, Kalyan has plans to undertake protests in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to protect the rights of farmers in the coming days in order to make his Jana Sena Party the sole representative of farmers.

Kalyan Woos Supporters with Speech, Shoulder

The stage, the style of interaction and the topic of conversation and nature or problems discussed at the farmers’ meeting that Jana Sena chief K Pawan Kalyan recently addressed here were no different from those of what were seen at similar meetings during his whirlwind tour of the capital region in March first week.

The only thing that was different at the Penumaka meeting was the facial and sartorial appearance of the actor-turned-politician. Instead of sporting a well-grown beard and wearing a ‘kurta’ over jeans, he was clean-shaven and wore a grey shirt, neatly tucked into a faded blue jeans.

The style of interaction with the aggrieved farmers was no different from the one he had adopted at the Bethapudi meeting last March. This time too, he went from person to person among the farmers gathered along the ramp of the stage and interacted with them.

Farmers, including women farmers, poured out their woes and their desire to be left alone by the government. “We are not interested in giving up our valuable land. Unlike other places, here we get ground water at a depth of just 20 feet. Year round, we grow different crops and earn handsomely, even on a half acre land,” some said. To stress their point, most of the farmers had brought different kinds of vegetables and other farm products grown in their farms, which were put in heaps along the ramp on which Kalyan walked.

A farmer from Yerrabalem village said they had been telling the  government that they did not want to lose their livelihood. “We have submitted memorandums to everyone from the district collector to the CRDA commissioner. Everyone seems to have gone deaf. Now our only hope is you,” he said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> The Sunday Standard / by J R Prasad / August 30th, 2015