Pawan Kalyan Flays BJP For "Disrespecting" JSP

Actor-turned-politician and JSP founder Pawan Kalyan today alleged that the leaders of JSP's long-time ally, the BJP, had disrespected his party and its leaders.

Speaking to the media after participating in the foundation day celebrations of the JSP at its headquarters, he claimed that the party's leaders in Telangana had informed him that the BJP leadership in the state had disrespected it, and said that the party would not ally itself with, or extend its support to, any party that did not respect it.

"JSP leaders based in Telangana have informed me that although our party shares an amicable relationship with the BJP-led Centre, the leaders of the saffron party's Telangana unit have been dismissive and disrespectful in their behaviour towards us. We had forged an alliance with the BJP as it had extended its support to the Telangana agitation. However, we will not tolerate any disrespect from the party's leaders," the politician said.

In a rather surprising turn of events, he then announced that his party had extended its support to the TRS candidate for the Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy MLC seat, Surabhi Vani Devi.

Talking about the JSP's future trajectory, Kalyan revealed that it was focusing on developing its organisational structure, and that it was readying itself to put up a tough fight against its rivals in any elections in the future.

He said that the main aim of the party was to empower the disempowered and marginalised BC community in the two Telugu-speaking states, and added, "The underprivileged continue to suffer because of the mistakes of the rulers. Our party will fight for them. It is unfortunate that caste-based politics is still practiced in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. We will fight against this as well."

The tirade may have left many puzzled as the Andhra Pradesh unit of the JSP recently announced that it would be joining hands with the BJP in the state once again. Following the announcement, party chief Pawan Kalyan even said that he was confident that the alliance would come to power in AP in the 2024 Assembly elections.