Pawan Kalyan takes U-turn over special status to Andhra

Taking a U-turn on the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Monday said the tag was not important.

In an interview to a television channel, the Jana Sena chief said that it doesn't matter whether the state gets the tag of special status or not.

"What is important is the financial help from the central government," he said.

Pawan, younger brother of superstar and Congress leader Chiranjeevi, also ruled out any truck with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) till the state's demands are met.

The actor had been targeting Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ever since it accepted special package from the BJP-led NDA government last year in lieu of the special category status.

Pawan had been addressing a series of meetings to target TDP. He had also described the special package as a "stale laddu".

Last week, he had even threatened to launch an indefinite fast to seek special status.

The u-turn came amid the allegations by the TDP that Pawan has secret understanding with the BJP. TDP president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had criticised the actor for making allegations of corruption against the TDP government instead of targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promise of special status.

Pawan, however, denied the allegations that BJP is behind him. "I have people behind me," he said.

Denying that he suddenly started making allegations against the TDP government, the actor claimed that he had taken up the matter with Naidu but he did not seem serious about looking into the problem.

Meanwhile, reacting sharply to Pawan's latest remarks on special status, state minister Amarnath Reddy said this proved beyond doubt that he is playing into the hands of the BJP.

Pawan had campaigned for BJP-TDP alliance in 2014 elections. TDP last week pulled out of NDA, accusing BJP of not fulfilling the commitments made to the state, especially granting special category status.

--IANS

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