Why does Andhra CM want Pawan Kalyan sued? Reason may be beyond volunteers

The political war of words between Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh took a curious turn last week when the government issued an order granting permission to prosecute actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, president of the Jana Sena Party (JSP), for making “baseless allegations” against gram/ward volunteers.

According to the order issued under Section 199(4)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a complaint would be filed by the public prosecutor in a court of law against the remarks made by Pawan Kalyan at a public meeting in Eluru on July 9, during his Varahi Yatra.

The government’s argument is that Pawan had linked the missing 14,000 women in Andhra to the personal data the volunteers collected on single and distressed women. The order said this had caused substantial damage to the reputation of the volunteer system, as well as the state government, in the eyes of the public and even caused a feeling of insecurity in the minds of women in distress.

The order wants the public prosecutors to file cases on Pawan based on this premise. The chief minister created the system in 2019.

Also read: Andhra Pradesh: Will BJP’s strategy of allying with Pawan Kalyan pay off?

Order’s timing

The government order took shape when Pawan Kalyan held meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda in New Delhi. For quite some time, the personal data collection by the volunteers, an army of 2.5 lakh youth working at the village and ward levels with an honorarium of Rs 5,000 a month, has been a bone of contention between the government and the Opposition.

Why did Jagan take the extreme decision to prosecute Pawan Kalyan now over a sweeping remark on volunteers who are not even government employees? Many people fear that this has the potential to generate sympathy for the actor-politician.

Two theories are doing the rounds. One: Diverting the debate from the murder within his extended family which took a serious dimension following Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila’s statement to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). And two: to intimidate Pawan against demoralizing the volunteers.

The Opposition alleges that volunteers are working to channel the opinion of beneficiaries of welfare schemes towards the YSR Congress, while the government says it is a Gandhian ideal of delivering government services and benefits to the poor at the doorsteps.

The controversy over the role of volunteers reached a new high when Pawan Kalyan linked the data collected about women by the volunteers to human trafficking in the state.

Also read: Pawan Kalyan’s Kapu caste trouble in battleground Andhra Pradesh

Jagan’s fears

The fear in the YSR Congress circles is that Pawan, as an ally of the BJP, might influence the Centre to rein in the volunteers, who enjoy enormous clout in the village as the chief minister’s personal army, through the Election Commission.

“It would upset Jagan’s plans of controlling the voters through volunteers who are in touch with about three crore voters by personally delivering the benefits. With the hope that volunteers would play a key role in mobilizing voters in favour of the YSR Congress, Jagan has removed the role of politicians like gram sarpanches and MLAs in the implementation of welfare schemes. Pawan wants to stop this system from being abused by Jagan,” said a sarpanch who is also a YSR leader.

TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu described the government order as unethical and said it would not hide Jagan’s criminal intent.

“A government cannot collect the personal data of voters. What Pawan did was nothing but raise an objection to the nature of data being collected by volunteers. Issuing a GO to file defamation cases on Pawan just for questioning the motive behind the data collection is a gross abuse of power,” Naidu tweeted.

Also read: Why Pawan Kalyan’s rath yatra is taking a Right turn in poll-bound Andhra

Volunteers in trouble

According to Nadendla Manohar, chairman of the JSP political affairs committee, Jagan is upset by the unexpected level of campaign against his “personal army”.

“With Pawan exposing the ugly side of the volunteer system, people would stop sharing personal information with the volunteers. They are YSRC workers in the guise of ward volunteers. As this is made public, the volunteers become unwelcome in villages. Jagan, who has woven his dream of coming back to power with around 2.5 lakh volunteers, is upset. So, he wants to harass Pawan with false defamation cases,” said Manohar, former speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

Another senior JSP leader, Bolisetty Satyanarayana, believes Jagan wants to divert the debate on his family coup to Pawan Kayan.

“Jagan’s sister Sharmila has long back with the CBI shared crucial information regarding her uncle Vivekananda Reddy’s murder. It clearly points to a conspiracy in the family to kill Viveka, the brother of YS Rajasekhar Reddy. Jagan doesn’t want any discussion on the murder in which his cousin and Lok Sabha member YS Avinash Reddy is an accused,” Satayanarayana said.

C Nagendranath, a senior member of the bar from Kurnool and a political commentator, said the government order doesn’t stand scrutiny of the law. “Volunteers are not government employees. A public prosecutor cannot file cases on behalf of private persons. Defamation is a non-cognizable offense that is a private affair. The affected individuals alone can file cases under Section 200 CrPC. Pawan talked about questionable data collected by volunteers and its abuse. It is a sweeping charge. No individual can claim defamation,” Nagendranath said.

Now Pawan has called to launch a state-wide agitation against the data collection and abuse by the volunteers and Jagan’s government.