Looking Beyond Andhra, Pawan Kalyan To NDTV On Party's Growth Plan

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has accused the Congress government in Telangana of denying him a constitutional right and of practicing divisive politics. The Congress government in Telangana had denied Kalyan permission for an indoor meeting with some 2,000 people in attendance on Telangana Formation Day.

"I think somehow they are scared. Otherwise, there is no need for them to deny permission. It's my constitutional right. It's a simple meeting," he told NDTV's Shiv Aroor.

The Janasena Party (JSP) chief said he has lived in Hyderabad since he was 21 years old, contested elections in Telangana and also maintained a committed cadre there through two decades of grinding opposition politics.

He criticised the Congress for labelling him as not a son-of-the-soil and using that line of attack to deny him an audience in Telangana. "Then that means Congress should not step into the south. If that is the argument, this country won't function. That is a very shallow argument," Kalyan said.

Compared to the Congress, he said that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which actually fought for Telangana's creation, had never obstructed him when it was in power for 10 long years.

"Strangely, the Congress is doing it now. At a central level, they behave like they are completely committed to national integrity. When it comes to states, for the sake of power, they can go to any low extremes," Kalyan said.

He is focussing on the municipal elections in Telangana next as the JSP looks to expand outside Andhra Pradesh. Kalyan said the JSP cadre has run out of patience with being asked to step aside, citing the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election when he persuaded some 30-40 JSP corporator aspirants to withdraw from the electoral battle.

"They were very upset. But still I told them let's not disturb the voting pattern," he told NDTV. "They said it would be a big injustice if you stop us one more time. I have to let them this time."

Kalyan also holds the Panchayati Raj and Environment portfolios in Andhra. He highlighted the state's jump from 24th to 1st in the national panchayati raj rankings as a marker of delivery within tight finances.

Referring to C Joseph Vijay's near-frictionless political journey in Tamil Nadu, where he became Chief Minister after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's (TVK) historic election win, Kalyan said the actor-turned-politician saw an opportunity in a place where cinema and politics are more deeply interwoven than anywhere else, but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could not take advantage of the window it had.

"After Murugan Maanadu, the AIADMK-BJP alliance would have cracked it. From that one issue, the momentum shifted. I think Vijay took that advantage," Kalyan said.

The Andhra deputy chief minister said that in hindsight former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai should not have left for the UK after losing from Coimbatore in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The DMK's Ganapathy P Rajkumar had won instead.

"Sometimes, you have to be there. It's okay to go through humiliation," Kalyan said. He said that he had told Annamalai directly: "You are the future of Tamil Nadu. You should stick it out." The Andhra leader called Annamalai "a man of great integrity" whose commitment to Tamil Nadu's culture operated "at a different level" regardless of whether he remained in the BJP or charted an independent course.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kalyan recalled an Independence Day address delivered near the Pakistan border as Gujarat chief minister. "I felt that this man speaks from the bottom of his heart. He doesn't mince his words. He says what he means," Kalyan told NDTV, adding he had sought a meeting much earlier before 2014.

"I told him, 'sir, you are going to be prime minister'. Whatever from my side to strengthen your leadership, I'll give my best. No other leader could do what he has done," Kalyan said.