Former YSR Congress party MLA from Dharmavaram Kethireddy Venkatrami Reddy, who created a sensation in the party for saying that the YSRCP had lost the last assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh due to a series of blunders committed by party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, clarified that he was loyal to Jagan.
“I have only explained the reasons for the party’s defeat in the election. But I am loyal to the party president Jagan Mohan Reddy because I align with Jagan’s ideology,” Kethireddy said.
He, however, gave a compliment to Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, saying he was the real crowd puller. He said in Andhra Pradesh, only Jagan and Pawan Kalyan are crowd-pullers.
“While Jagan attracts people for political reasons, Pawan draws crowds mainly because of his film career,” he said.
However, Kethireddy said Pawan Kalyan has no ideology of his own.
“He has no clarity on what ideological stand he should take. He is still under the shadow of Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and is working under the latter’s influence,” he said.
At the same time, the YSRCP leader said Pawan Kalyan is also not a very good actor compared to Kamal Haasan and Chiranjeevi.
“He is no better than Kamal Haasan. Strangely, Pawan Kalyan succeeded in politics. Kamal Haasan lost whenever he contested elections,” he said.
He recalled that in 2009, Chiranjeevi contested from two constituencies but won only in one and subsequently, he had given up politics.
“On the other hand, Balakrishna won three times in Hindupur only because of its political background. He might not have won had he contested from Gudivada,” he said.
Referring to Tamil actor Vijay’s political entry, Kethireddy remarked that politics is not as easy as it seems. He asserted that film stars are heroes only on screen but not in real life.
On Vijay Sai Reddy’s resignation, Kethireddy stated that YSRCP had given Vijay Sai Reddy a deserving position. If not for Jagan’s support, Sai Reddy would have remained just an auditor.
