In Andhra Pradesh, political discourse on three capital shifts to three wives

Amid a war of words, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday, October 20, hit out at actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, alluding that he encourages people to marry three times. While CM Jagan did not name Pawan Kalyan, the chief of the Jana Sena party (JSP), the latter’s personal life has been brought up in the most recent war of words between the parties. The CM remarked that instead of talking about three capitals, the discourse has shifted to three wives.

"Some who identify as the leader of the people encourages them to get married three times. If a leader talks like this on television, what will happen to our mothers and sisters? How will the system fare? Are these people able to lead us?" CM Jagan asked. 

After the state bifurcation in 2014, the TDP which was in power, decided to create Amaravati as the capital city of the state. However, the YSRCP which formed the government in 2019, went against the decision and instead wanted to build a capital in three regions– Visakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital– which they claim would develop all the regions.  

The YSRCP government and Uttarandhra Joint Action Committee — a group of civil society members supporting the decentralised capitals — organised a massive Visakha Garjana rally in support of three capitals recently. Thousands showed up at the rally held in Vizag on October 15, where former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan came under fire from ministers and MLAs for opposing the idea.

The discourse stooped to a low when Tourism Minister Roja Selvamani, addressing the Visakha Garjana on October 15, brought up Pawan Kalyan’s personal life. “Pawan Kalyan needs a Visakhapatnam girl to marry. He needs Visakhapatnam for shootings and cinema collections. He also needs Visakhapatnam to contest elections but he does not want the state capital here,” she said.

In retaliation to the remarks being made against him, on October 16, Pawan replied, "If I had studied acting in Mumbai, should the capital be there as well? Do my three marriages give me the right to establish three capitals in three different locations? Is there any logic? This is how they always try to get to me. You can also get married and divorced. Who is holding you back? They appear to be extremely jealous of me.”

On the same day, Gudivada Amarnath, the Minister of Industries and Information Technology pounced on Pawan’s reply and alleged that the actor-turned-politician was encouraging people to remarry. “I request all the girls of Vizag to not come outside until Pawan Kalyan is in the city. We already gave our city girl to him”, he said in a press meet.

The two parties have been at loggerheads over the Visakha Garjana rally, which saw thousands in attendance including MLAs, MLCs and members of the Andhra cabinet. After the rally, YSRCP ministers Jogi Ramesh and RK Roja, former minister Perni Nani and TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) board chairman YV Subba Reddy were on their way to the airport when their convoy was attacked. Stones were pelted at the cars, and the driver of Roja’s car sustained minor injuries. The glass panes of Subba Reddy’s car were broken. The attackers were allegedly JSP workers. Following the incident, Pawan Kalyan has been prohibited from conducting rallies and meetings in the limits of east sub division of Visakhapatnam city police.

This isn’t the first time that Pawan Kalyan’s marriage had become a point of discussion in Andhra Pradesh. Previously too, in 2019, while defending his move to introduce English as the medium of instruction in government schools in the state Jagan had made personal comments on the marital life of the Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan who had opposed the decision. Jagan had said “You have three wives and four or five children. Which medium are they studying?”