'Ready To Go To Jail', Says Pawan Kalyan After Andhra Govt's G.O. To Prosecute Him For Remarks Criticising Volunteer System

The YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh has issued a G.O. to prosecute Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan for his remarks linking the state's village and ward volunteer system to the disappearance of thousands of women and data theft.

The state government contended that Kalyan's remarks were defamatory in nature and damaged the reputation of the volunteers as well as the state government.

Reacting to the news, Kalyan said, “I am prepared to go to jail and be beaten up. I know the risk in casting doubts on the very purpose of the system of volunteers.”

Keeping up the criticism, he said, “Volunteers cannot be called volunteers in the first place as they are being given a remuneration of ₹160-plus per day for their work, compared to the Red Cross volunteers who serve the needy without taking a pie

“Basically, the volunteers are being exploited, as even an MGNREGS worker draws more for a day’s toil.” 

Earlier, he had alleged that there have been instances of volunteers misbehaving with women, being caught for theft, illegal liquor trade and threatening people that they would be removed from beneficiary lists.

Regarding the issue of data, he had asked Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy why was the data of people from Andhra Pradesh being stored with an agency in Hyderabad and who would be responsible if the data is misused.

This comes a few days after Kalyan attended the meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Delhi and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda.

According to political commentators, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is trying to corner Kalyan through this issue, as he (Kalyan) is believed to be pushing for a united opposition, i.e., an alliance of the JSP, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the BJP to take on the YSRCP.