Jagan spits fire on Pawan Kalyan, Chandrababu, Balakrishna, calls them ‘characterless’

TIRUPATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday launched a scathing attack at opposition leaders for their unsolicited remarks against Government volunteers. The attack was made during an event organised for disbursing financial assistance amounting to Rs 193.64 crore to handloom weavers under the YSR Nethanna Nestham programme in Venkatagiri of Tirupati district.

Jagan lambasted Jana Sena Party Chief Pawan Kalyan who had made derogatory and defamatory allegations against Government volunteers at a public event on July 9 in Eluru.

"Only characterless people like Pawan Kalyan, Chandrababu Naidu, Balakrishna and Yellow Media are talking negatively about volunteers. How dare they? Pawan Kalyan’s remarks are proof that we all live in Kalyug," he said.

Launching fireworks at Pawan Kalyan, Jagan said that in fact it was Kalyan who himself was a volunteer for TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu. Denouncing him for pointing fingers on the character of volunteers, Jagan said, "Pawan Kalyan had multiple illegal affairs, one who manipulates women and leave them every four years, bears a child with some other women, should not talk about the character of volunteers."

Jagan then rained fire against opposition leaders and their malicious social media handles for peddling and propagating fake news. "Its deplorable that the characterless people like Pawan Kalyan, Chandrababu Naidu, Balakrishna, and yellow media are talking about volunteers," he said.

Without taking names, the Chief Minister added, "One person (Lokesh) consumes liquor in broad daylight and dances surrounded by girls in a swimming pool. Another (Balakrishna) says that if you a see a girl , you should either kiss her or make her pregnant. Responding to this, one more person who is 70-years-old (Chandrababu Naidu), tells that you did it in movies but I did it in real life."

"Only culture-less people would criticise the volunteers who have been extending selfless service to the people with responsibility," he said.

Strongly standing by Government volunteers, Jagan said, "It is not right to level allegations and malign our volunteers who are going an extra mile to ensure delivery of schemes. They are doing their best to serve the people. They go to every doorstep to enquire the well-being of people with a lot of concern. For me, each and every volunteer is my family member."

The above comments were made after the Chief Minister disbursed financial aid to weavers for the fifth year in a row. A sum of Rs 193.64 crore was directly transferred into the bank accounts of 80,686 beneficiaries across the State in a bid to upgrade their livelihood and make them self-reliant. Through this scheme, the YSRCP government ensured financial assistance of Rs 24,000 per annum to every weaver who owned a loom.

Addressing a sea of supporters in Venkatagiri, CM Jagan said, "The YSR Nethanna Nestham, is an unprecedented initiative that was introduced to revive the past glory of the weavers. Including today’s disbursal, each eligible weavers' family has received a total of Rs 1.2 lakh. Since the inception of the government in 2019, an impressive sum of total of Rs 969.77 crore has been disbursed under YSR Nethanna Nestham programme. Additionally, an amount of Rs 1,396.45 crore has been allocated for weavers' pensions, while Rs 468.84 crore has been allocated to APCO (including Rs 103 crore withheld by the previous government). The total expenditure on these three schemes, solely aimed at the welfare of weavers, amounts to a significant Rs 2,835.06 crore."

In an effort to enhance global marketing opportunities for handloom products, the government announced that it had forged partnerships with multinational corporations such as Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, Gocoop, Loom Folks, Mirraw, and Paytm. These collaborations aim to boost the income levels of weaver families substantially.