Power star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, who took a small break from shooting for a couple of days, to get back into active politicking, had to face an embarrassing situation in Amaravati, where farmers have been agitating against shifting of capital to Visakhapatnam for nearly two months.
As announced, Pawan toured a few villages in Amaravati on Saturday and extended his solidarity with the agitating farmers. But they cornered him for joining hands with Bharatiya Janata Party which is playing a double game on the capital issue.
A farmer asked Pawan as to why his alliance partner BJP was maintaining double standards on the capital city.
“While BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana says the party would fight for retaining the capital at Amaravati, the national leaders like G V L Narasimha Rao says the Centre had no role to play in deciding the capital city. The BJP minister says in Parliament that location of capital city is state government’s prerogative. Why is this confusion within the same party?” he asked.
A visibly embarrassed Pawan said deciding the capital city was no doubt within the purview of the state government, but the previous government had already decided on Amaravati as the capital.
“So, it has to continue at Amaravati. How can the capital be shifted every time when there is a change in government?” he asked and said as far as he knew, the BJP was against shifting of the capital.
Another woman farmer insisted that Pawan should make a promise that he would bring pressure on the Centre to keep the capital city at Amaravati.
“This is not a child’s play to make promises and take vows. I cannot give such promises. You should remember that I am not the chief minister and I have no power to decide on the capital. All that I can say is that I will continue to fight for Amaravati. ,” he said.