Andhra Home Minister says she takes Pawan Kalyan’s criticism ‘positively’

Andhra Pradesh home minister Vangalapudi Anitha responded to Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s remarks about inadequacy in her leadership to enforce law and order in the state. She said nowhere did the deputy chief minister say she had failed as a home minister.
“I am taking Pawan Kalyan’s comments positively. I talked to him and got clarity,” she said.
Kalyan, at a rally on Monday, in his constituency Pithapuram, had rebuked Anitha for the law and order situation in the state. He warned that unless there was an improvement, he would be forced to “take over the home department as well”.
“If I had taken up the Home Ministry, things would be starkly different,” he had said, hinting that he might consider the role in the future if changes were not implemented. “I am the Panchayat Raj Minister, and I am telling you, do your responsibility as Home Minister. If things don’t improve, a time may come when I have to assume the role of Home Minister myself,” he had warned Anitha.
Anitha dismissed speculations and responded to media queries saying Pawan Kalyan’s comments were “being cut and misrepresented”.
She said she had spoken to the deputy chief minister over the phone and that he clarified his stance. “I take Pawan Kalyan’s words very positively. When I spoke to Pawan Kalyan on the phone, he made it clear. He spoke with pain about the things going on in the name of posts on social media,” she said.
“They are sending obscene messages in the name of freedom of expression. I have seen inappropriate posts on Pawan Kalyan’s daughters, Nara Brahmani and Bhuvaneshwari,” she said, adding she had seen terrible posts on social media. Kalyan spoke in this context and was in anguish.
Responding to the rising number of crimes against women and children, she said the police system had been in a disarray for the last five years, but the state was “very strong in terms of law and order.”
“We are reviewing the atrocities on women and children district wise. For the last five years, the police system has been in disarray. Today, even I am a victim of social media,” she said.