Target of Pawan Kalyan’s ire, Andhra Home Minister says will try to do better: ‘Don’t think he referred to me as a failure’

Anitha, a two-time MLA from Payakaraopeta (SC) Assembly Constituency, said that instead of getting rattled, she takes criticism positively and seriously and tries to address the concerns.

“I think that he was encouraging me to do more, be more aggressive in handling the law and order situation, and I take it as encouragement. I understand the role and responsibilities of a home minister, and I do not think he referred to me as a failure. As Cabinet colleagues, we also discuss these issues during Cabinet meetings and he is very supportive,” she said, responding to Kalyan’s remarks while speaking at Pithapuram Monday.

“I think I know which incident he was referring to when he spoke about crimes against children and women,” Anitha said, hinting that the JSP chief may be pointing to the incident in Tirupati where a four-year-old was raped and strangled to death by a relative last week.

“He was very pained by one or two recent incidents of violence against women. He also mentioned that he was pained and disgusted by social media posts which targeted women with obscene and vulgar words,” she said. Blaming the previous YSRCP government for not taking any action against violence against women and obscene social media posts, Anitha said that the government is trying to transform the police force to react strongly to such incidents, and maintain law and order.

Kalyan had on Monday criticised Anitha, saying that its law and order situation would be different if he replaced her.

Kalyan, an actor-turned-politician, had also said that the alleged inaction by the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government against criminals was responsible for the current situation in the state.

Anitha, 45, who gave up teaching to join politics in 2013, has herself been a target of obscene messages and trolling on social media. Although she won for the first time as an MLA in 2014 from Payakaraopeta Assembly constituency, it was not until she was made the TDP politburo member and appointed as head of the TDP’s Women’s Wing, the AP Telugu Mahila, in 2021 that she started becoming the target of trolling with vulgar language. In 2019, she contested from Kovvuru and lost to YSRCP’s Taneti Vanitha.