Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Sunday began his 45-day tour across Andhra Pradesh, starting from Ichchapuram town in Srikakulam district on Sunday.
Pawan began the day with special prayers by offering a 'Gangamma puja' at Kapaskuddi before he travelled to the town with a convoy of cars.
After offering prayers, he addressed locals near the beach as slogans demanding that the Jana Sena party head be made Chief Minister rang in the air.
Many held placards supporting Pawan Kalyan, while others waved party flags.
Elaborate arrangements were also made for Pawan to speak to the public at the Surangi Rajavari Grounds at 4 pm on Sunday, after which he will spend the night in Ichchapuram.
Dubbed the Jana Sena Porata Yatra, the tour will see a mix of walkathons (padayatra), public meetings and road shows.
He said the aim of this yatra is to highlight the issue of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh and also to highlight the several promises made by the Centre during the state’s bifurcation.
According to media reports, the Jana Sena party chief is expected to continue touring the district over the next few days, even scheduling a visit to Srikakulam city, following which he would enter Vizianagaram district before next week.
Ichchapuram is situated at the topmost corner of the state, near the Odisha border, where Pawan already enjoys considerable support, due to his attempts to tackle the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease or 'Uddanam Nephropathy', which has claimed many lives in the region during last 30 years.
After the problem was highlighted recently by Pawan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced measures to look into the issue.
The state government later also agreed to set up a dedicated research centre in the state's Uddanam region to find a solution.
Last week, Pawan took everyone by surprise as he trekked to the Lord Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala from Alipiri, bought a darshan ticket of Rs 300, and stood in the queue like a common man.
However, as the media gathered and devotees began trying to get a glimpse of the actor, police personnel stepped in and escorted him through the darshan.
Speaking to reporters, Pawan said that he came to seek blessings from the deity before his plans of undertaking the yatra across Andhra.
Pawan, who had campaigned for the BJP-TDP alliance in 2014 elections before falling out with them, also hopes that the tour would greatly help them when the state goes to the polls in 2019.
The actor-politician has already said that his party would contest all 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh during the 2019 polls.
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