‘Took his comments positively’, says Andhra Pradesh minister criticised by Pawan Kalyan

On Monday, actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, deputy CM of Andhra Pradesh, had criticised state home minister Anitha Vangalapudi over the Tirupati rape-murder case.

Amid anger in Andhra Pradesh over the rape-murder of a child in Tirupati, state home minister Anitha Vangalapudi has said she has taken deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan's criticism ‘positively.’

Anitha Vangalapudi (X)

“I have taken his comments very positively. I have a responsibility. I hold a critical portfolio. It's like he is backing me up, saying you can go ahead more aggressively,” she told reporters on Tuesday, NDTV reported.

Anitha Vangalapudi is from the TDP of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. The party runs the state in alliance with the BJP, and deputy CM Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena.

‘If I was the home minister…’: Pawan Kalyan

On Monday, Kalyan had said if he was the home minister, ‘things would be different.’

“I am telling home minister Anitha, you are the home minister. Please take on the responsibilities of the home ministry. If I take up the portfolio, things would be different. Remember that,” the actor-politician remarked at a public meeting in the Pithapuram constituency.

Further, he endorsed how Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath deals with criminals.

“These criminals should be dealt with in the same fashion as Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. Until then, they will not listen. We are being pushed into that kind of situation,” he added.

Yogi Adityanath is known for ordering demolitions of properties belonging to criminals, including people whose crimes are yet to be proven. However, this ‘bulldozer justice’ has been derided by his critics as well as the civil society.

Meanwhile, Kalyan, who holds the Panchayat Raj, Forest and Environment ministries, chided police for ‘neglecting’ its duty to uphold law and order.

“Why are you (police) bringing up caste when a three-year-old girl is raped and murdered?” he asked.