Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan has claimed that that the miscreants involved in arson at Amalapuram were acting at the behest of some YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders.
“The violence over renaming Konaseema district was a conspiracy aimed at diverting the people’s attention from the government’s unpopularity among the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the murder of driver of ruling party MLC A.S. Uday Bhaskar,” said Mr. Pawan Kalyan.
Renaming Konaseema district after Dr. B.R. Ambedkar would have been a smooth affair, had it been done at the time of publishing the gazette notification for all new districts after the reorganisation exercise.
“Doing it in haste was clearly a part of the YSRCP’ s divisive game plan,” asserted Mr. Pawan Kalyan and insisted that such sensitive issues should be sorted out amicably by conducting a referendum.
“Further, shifting of Minister Pinipe Viswaroop’s family members to safety before the mob set his rented house on fire is proof that the attack was pre-planned. Similarly, the police were able to move MLA P. Satish Kumar and his family from their house before the attack as if they knew about it in advance. It is shameful that the police could not prevent the attacks,” Mr. Pawan Kalyan said.
Referring to allegations pertaining to suspected involvement of the Jana Sena cadres in the arson, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said that he would have no objection, if the culprits were identified and action was taken against them.
“The YSRCP government kept the issue pending with a purpose. Having completed the reorganisation exercise districts without giving a window to the people who wanted to express their opinions, it is surprising that the government gave 30 days for registering objections to the proposal pertaining to renaming Konaseema district,” said the Jana Sena president.
He pointed out that officials deputed by the Central government at the time of State bifurcation visited each district and gathered feedback from the people on the demand for statehood to Telangana to allay the apprehensions thereof whereas no such effort went into the sensitive issue of creation of new districts in Andhra Pradesh. “In the present case, there was an instruction that grievances should be submitted individually in order to target them if something went wrong,” he said.
Referring to a representation submitted to him on renaming Kurnool district after the State’s first Dalit Chief Minister Damodaram Sanjeevaiah, in the event of his party (JSP) coming to power, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said he told the people who approached him that it should not be a matter of his personal choice, rather he would hold a referendum for it would best reflect the people’s opinion.
