Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan set off speculation and raised eyebrows on Sunday morning after he visited the house of former state minister and slain TDP leader Paritala Ravi.
Pawan, who was in Anantapur as part of his 'Chalo re Chal' yatra, met Paritala Ravindra’s wife and present Andhra Women and Child Welfare Minister Paritala Sunitha at their residence.
Paritala Ravi was known for indulging in gang wars and was murdered by his rivals in 2005. The rivalry saga between Paritala Ravi and gangster-politician Maddalacheruvu Soori was the inspiration behind Raktha Charitra, the two-part film released in 2010, directed by Ram Gopal Verma.
Maddalacheruvu Suri, key accused in the assassination of Paritala Ravi was later killed, allegedly by his close aide in 2011.
Media reports suggested that Pawan, in an hour-long visit, had breakfast with the Paritala family and spoke about politics in the Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh, while also discussing irrigation projects like the Handrineeva, which bring water to the drought-ridden district.
Speaking to the media from the Paritala residence along with Sunitha, Pawan said, "There are aspirations among the people and we need to reach out to them, and understand and assess the situation. I came here to talk and get information about the ground reality of the situation at hand.”
The ‘tale’ of a tonsuring
While the Jana Sena party dubbed it a purely political meeting, several eyebrows were raised as Pawan Kalyan and Paritala Ravi were rumoured to have had a face-off, many years ago.
Though denied repeatedly as rumours, the story goes that Paritala Ravi got into an argument with actor-politician Chiranjeevi over a land dispute in Hyderabad and forcefully tonsured the head of Pawan Kalyan, who is Chiranjeevi’s younger brother.
Many photos of Pawan with short hair have also done the rounds on social media.
Around two months ago, Pawan denied the rumours and said that it was propaganda by certain TDP leaders. He also said that he had never met Paritala Ravi in his life.
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Addressing mediapersons, Pawan said, “When I was busy shooting for Tammudu, I got a phone call from my brother Nagababu. After enquiring my whereabouts, my brother brought to my notice that some TDP leaders are spreading rumours that Paritala Ravindra tonsured my head. Had this been the case, would I have kept quiet? In fact, out of frustration, I myself got my head tonsured during the shooting of the film.”
“I am not aware about Paritala Ravi. TDP leaders circulated the rumours which later got published in some newspapers…I never took them to my heart and extended support to TDP notwithstanding the humiliation caused by the leaders of that party,’’ he added.
Backing Pawan’s claims, Sunitha told reporters, “He (Ravi) is no so fool to get the head of a popular actor tonsured. What Pawan said is right. There is no truth whatsoever in the reports that my husband got his head tonsured.”
Pawan visited their home, a day after he laid the foundation stone for the construction of his first party office in Andhra, at the Gooty road in Anantapur.
Sunitha’s son, Paritala Sriram was also present at the meeting on Sunday. Chief Ministers of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana attended Sriram’s wedding in October last year.
Sunita had invited both KCR and Naidu for the wedding, as KCR had a good rapport with Paritala Ravi, when the former served as in-charge minister for Anantapur district, when he was with the TDP between 1995 and 1999.