Want Narendra Modi as PM, says Pawan Kalyan

Hyderabad: While asking his fans to vote for any party of their choice, Jana Sena founder and actor Pawan Kalyan, expressed his desire to see Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi become the next Prime Minister.

Addressing his first public meeting in Visakhapatnam on Thursday after launching his outfit a few days ago, Pawan Kalyan also did justice to the lobby that worked to win his support for the BJP-TDP alliance.

He said that he had opted not to contest the polls as he did not want to split votes. Though not directly naming the Telugu Desam, he said that the people were free to elect a party which they think would develop the new state and new capital.

Without naming YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said, “The Congress allowed people here to loot thousands of crores of public money but later used the CBI against them and even got them arrested,” adding that the Congress facilitated bail once an understanding was reached.”

The Jana Sena chief added that honest officers who pursued the corruption case with vigour were let down by the Centre, and had to wait nine months for a posting. The reference was to former CBI director V. Lakshminarayana, who investigated the case.In an attempt to appease his brother and Union minister K. Chiranjeevi and his fan base, Pawan Kalyan sought to defend Praja Rajyam’s merger with the Congress.

“Some MLAs might have forced him to merge the party. It is not his fault,” he said, adding that he thought that the merger would benefit the state which was in turmoil.

He praised the BJP for making its stand on the division of the state clear through the Kakinada resolution of one vote and two states. However, he conveniently ignored the fact that the BJP kept its resolution under wraps because of political compulsions with its NDA partner, the Telugu Desam.

Apparently to keep the Majlis, which did not even spare Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy for offering post-poll support to Mr Modi, in good humour, Pawan Kalyan said that the migrants in Telangana, especially those in Hyderabad, must support the Majlis.

He said that the Owaisi brothers provided a sense of security to the Seemandhra people. In reality, the Majlis opposed joint capital and special powers to the Governor which many other organisations from Seemandhra wished for.