Pawan Kalyan's fans try to attack Posani, actor's war of words with Andhra ministers continue

Fans of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday tried to attack actor and producer Posani Krishna Murali for his remarks against the former. Pawan's fans reached the Hyderabad Press Club where Posani was addressing a news conference. They raised slogans against him. This led to tension. The protestors, including workers of Pawan's Jana Sena party, tried to barge into the hall where Posani was but police foiled their bid by taking them into custody. Moreover, the war of words between actor-politician Pawan Kalyan and leaders of YSR Congress Party continued on Tuesday with the Jana Sena leader slamming Andhra Pradesh's ruling party for what he calls its "policy terrorism".

Pawan Kalyan tweeted that YSRCP's "policy terrorism" is destroying all sectors and all communities and remarked that the time has come to counter it. For the second time in a day, the Jana Sena leader took to Twitter to launch another attack on the YSRCP government led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, this time targetting it for attacks on Hindu temples. He wrote that there were not one or two but 140 attacks on Hindu temples and idols of Hindu deities. "This is the progress made in Andhra Pradesh during two-and-a-half years of rule of the YSRCP," he remarked and alleged that those involved are safe.

Tuesday's tweets further intensified the war of words going on between Pawan Kalyan and the YSRCP leaders since the former lambasted Andhra Pradesh government during the pre-release event of movie "Republic" starring his nephew Sai Dharam Tej. He criticised the Jagan government over the proposed online movie ticket booking system and alleged that the government is trying to profit from movie tickets.

Andhra Pradesh's ministers including Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Nani countered Pawan's criticism saying his view does not represent the view of Tollywood. While pointing out the government already consulted the Tollywood elders on the proposal, they also remarked that Pawan Kalyan's movies have not done well commercially for the government to make any attempt to benefit from them.

This triggered a bitter war of words. In a tweet on Monday, Pawan Kalyan compared YSRCP leaders to dogs. He also posted the video song "Who let the dogs out" with the comment that this is one of his favourite songs.

Perni Nani hit back at the actor for his "culture of marriages" and compared him to a pig. The minister also posted a video of Pawan Kalyan with the song "Who let the dogs out" in the background.

Meanwhile, government advisor and YSRCP General Secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said on Tuesday that the state government is trying to do good for the film industry by being a facilitator with the online ticket system.

He said that some prominent people in the film industry consider Pawan Kalyan as a huge burden to the industry and fear that they may get into trouble by being with him. He said that the state government is ready to cooperate with the film industry and even distributors, and exhibitors were happy with the online ticketing system as this would bring transparency. If the film industry still has any doubts, it can meet the Chief Minister any time and get them clarified, he added.