Pawan Kalyan Falling Into KCR Trap, Says Congress

TDP-leader-turned-Congress-leader A Revanth Reddy said that popular Telugu movie hero and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan was "falling into the trap" of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. He also advised Kalyan to stick to the facts in his pronouncements.

Reddy was responding to the media over reports of the Telugu superstar endorsing the CM's rule subsequent to the announcement of 24x7 power supply to the farm sector, and extending support to the TRS.

Suggesting that the actor make statements after ascertaining the facts, he said that he was sending over to the latter a book written on the power situation in the state by the Power JAC. He also reminded Kalyan of KTR's erstwhile tweet that had slammed the actor calling him "aparichithudu", and expressed hope that the actor would not succumb to the guiles of KCR.

Reddy also said that the surplus power in the state was due to the efforts of the previous Congress government and not of the TRS, and quoted former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who had stated that the UPA government had allocated 54% power to Telangana and 46% to Andhra Pradesh during the bifurcation of the state. He also claimed that the TRS government had not generated a single unit of power in the last three years, and stated that the Bhoopalapally (600 MW), Pegadapalli Jaipur (1,200 MW) and Mahbubnagar (240 MW) power projects were all started by the then Congress government.

He also reminded the people that the Centre had already been giving power through the UDAY scheme, and claimed that TRS' tall claims of 24x7 power supply notwithstanding, all that the 54 lakh farmers of the state wanted was a regular 9-hour supply of uninterrupted power through the day.

Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, too, expressed his surprise over the actor praising KCR. Rao wanted to know how, when the actor claimed to see through YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's corruption, he could not see the corruption of KCR, too. He said that the sincerity of the actor's party promising corruption-free governance was exposed with his heaping praises on KCR.

He also advised the actor to find out for himself what the farmers were discussing about the 24-hour power supply scheme, and asked him to comment only after visiting rural Telangana.