The way actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan spit venom on YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh agriculture minister Kurasala Kanna Babu came as a big surprise to everybody.
First, Kanna Babu belongs to the same community (Kapu) as that of Pawan Kalyan. Secondly, the minister was also a close associate of Pawan’s elder brother and megastar Chiranjeevi and had been an MLA of Praja Rajyam Party.
Being a journalist Kanna Babu had vast knowledge on many issues and had been one of the members of Chiranjeevi’s think tank in the past. Those days, he was also closer to Pawan Kalyan, who was a youth leader in Praja Rajyam Party.
In the subsequent political developments, Kanna Babu joined the Congress party along with Chiranjeevi. While Chiranjeevi quietly withdrew from politics, Kanna Babu sustained in politics by joining YSR Congress party and has now become a minister.
As such, Kanna Babu has no personal grouse against Pawan Kalyan and the latter, too, should not have any enmity with the former.
Yet, the Jana Sena Party chief has been targeting Kanna Babu right from the days of electioneering.
He went to the extent of telling the people of Kakinada during the election campaign to defeat Kanna Babu. He said if Kanna Babu won the seat, it amounted to Pawan’s personal defeat.
But, the people defeated Pawan Kalyan in two seats – Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram and elected Kanna Babu from Kakinada rural constituency.
In a way, Pawan lost in three seats, as he claimed that Kanna Babu’s victory is equal to his own defeat.
May be that is the reason why Pawan Kalyan made a scathing attack on Kanna Babu at the Visakhapatnam rally.
The immediate reason, of course, was the criticism made by Kanna Babu that Pawan’s long march was being funded by Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
“Naidu and Pawan Kalyan’s nexus has been there for a long time and during 2019 elections, the funding came from the earnings out of illegal sand mining to be spent at Gajuvaka and Bhimavaram,” Kanna Babu said.
The Jana Sena Party president claimed that Kanna Babu would not have been in politics had he and his brother Chiranjeevi not encouraged him.
He said the people would teach Kanna Babu a fitting lesson had the latter not stopped making wild allegations against him and Jana Sena Party.
