A day after eggs were hurled at Telugu film critic Kathi Mahesh on Thursday night, allegedly by fans of Pawan Kalyan, the actor-politician’s Jana Sena Party (JSP) asked its cadres to restrain themselves.
Asking his fans not to react to attempts made by certain people to deflect the party’s attention and gain popularity, Pawan Kalyan added that a knee-jerk reaction to criticism would harm the interests of the party.
He also warned that the JSP would officially respond, if the limits of criticism are breached.
He also highlighted that the party considered the people’s welfare as its ultimate agenda and believed in politics that was devoid of caste, religion and region.
Meanwhile, in a statement, party Vice-President Mahender Reddy also appealed for people to remain calm.
“There are attempts to cause confusion among the activists and supporters of Jana Sena. Our beloved leader, Pawan Kalyan, believes that the Telugu people will protect him come what may. We have to walk in the path of our leader, who eschews communal, casteist, regional and other identarian politics,” he was quoted as saying.
These two statements come after months of escalating tensions between critic Kathi Mahesh and self-proclaimed fans of Pawan Kalyan.
Kathi has clashed with fans of Pawan in the past as well, especially after they unleashed an organised campaign to troll Kathi.
On Thursday night, Kathi was travelling in a cab when he had eggs thrown at him near Hyderabad’s Cyber Towers in Madhapur.
Kathi suspects that the attack was carried out by followers of Pawan Kalyan, and has demanded a response from the actor-politician himself.
Following this, he filed a complaint with the Madhapur police on Friday.
Taking note of the incident, the police registered a case under sections 323(voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act.
Kathi Mahesh has been vocal about his criticism against the Jana Sena party chief, and was trolled extensively after he called Jana Sena ‘authoritarian’. His phone number was also circulated in fan groups, and people were asked to troll and abuse him.