PK calls for boycott of channels

Also targets RGV and news channel owner Srini Raju

Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan on Thursday called for a boycott of some Telugu news channels, accusing them of abusing women.

“Boycott TV9, TV5, ABN for abusing our mothers, daughters and sisters. And also we have to boycott them for making business out of nudity and profanity. Making business out of a helpless sister,” Pawan tweeted, dragging media organisations into a public spat between him and director Ram Gopal Varma.

Earlier, Varma had admitted that he had asked actor Sri Reddy to abuse Pawan using a derogatory term for his mother.

Pawan, however, sought to claim that Varma and

TV9 owner Srini Raju were working in cohorts to defame him ahead of polls.

The actor has also tried to widen the controversy by stating that these news channels were friendly to Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu and would not have run such a malicious campaign against the Chief Minister or his son Lokesh.

He also warned the TD chief against playing with the human sentiments, at least from now onwards. Accusing Mr Naidu of controlling the media, Pawan asked Mr Naidu as to what are his priorities. Pawan’s tweets which came few minutes after Mr Naidu sat for Deeksha on his birthday indicate a fullblown war with the TD.

The actor has also warned Mahaa News TV, which he claimed was funded by TD MP Sujana Choudhary or his benami.

He asked his fans to maintain calm and restrained them from resorting to violence even if Srini Raju files cases against him. “And I am also going for a long and powerful legal battle on these channel heads,” he added. Varma, however, denied any links with Srini Raju and accused the actor of instigating his fans to attack the channel owner.

Srini Raju who makes money out of slander campaigns on public misery will understand in the days to come what he has done.

— PAWAN KALYAN

Minutes after he began his symbolic day-long fast, or Dharma Porata Deeksha, on his birthday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu became the target of a series of hostile tweets from Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who seems to have declared open war against the ruling Telugu Desam (TD), and three vernacular news channels.

Pawan claims the reason for his anger is that the channels have involved his mother in “unnecessary controversies” for the sake of “high ratings and political benefits.” Speaking to Deccan

Chronicle over the phone, he said, he is contemplating legal action against the channels on charges of “character assassination’’, and asked whether the channels would behave in this manner towards Naidu himself, or Nara Lokesh, Naidu’s son or Lokesh’s father-inlaw and TD MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna.

Pawan also warned Naidu to not play with human sentiments, and termed the CM’s Deeksha as ‘irrelevant’ at this juncture. Pawan’s tweets have also questioned the integrity of TD leaders and the channels, for their “double standards” on women. Additionally, Pawan has targeted news channel owner Srini Raju and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, and said the ‘rich and powerful can abuse anyone, they have the luxury’. He added, “An investor who makes money out of slander campaigns and public misery will understand in the days to come what he has done.” On the three vernacular news channels, he said, “They love and die for shows with the highest TRPs, so I will provide the mother of all shows.”