Telugu superstar Allu Arjun recently visited Nandyal, where he paid visit to the sitting MLA and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party candidate Ravichandra Kishore Reddy amid election campaigning. However, his visit led to both the actor and politician being booked for poll code violation amid the ongoing elections. There were also reports that Arjun was entering the political fray soon. Many fans of his uncle and politician Pawan Kalyan had also accused him of supporting a rival instead of his own family. The actor has now broken his silence on the episode.
In a statement, the Pushpa-fame actor has said, “Firstly, I want to clarify that I'm not affiliated with any political party. I remain neutral and support my people, regardless of their political affiliations. This includes my uncle Pawan Kalyan, whom I'll always stand by, along with my friend Ravi and my father-in-law, Mr. Reddy.”
The actor added that he visited Reddy because of a promise he had made him earlier. “I made a promise to my friend, Mr. Ravi, to support him, but I couldn't fulfill it last time. To keep my word, this time I went to Nandyal to support him,” he said. Arjun had campaigned for Reddy in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too.
On Saturday, as Arjun visited Reddy in Nandyal, his constituency, a large crowd gathered there with his fans chanting Pushpa – the name of his iconic character – for over an hour. This led to allegations of poll code violations by the two. A complaint was then lodged by the Special Deputy Tehsildar of Nandyal, saying Arjun had no permission from the constituency’s Returning Officer to conduct any election programme.
Ravichandra Kishore Reddy is a candidate of the YSR Congress Party from the Nandyal Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh. While Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party has not fielded a candidate from Nandyal, the party is supporting their ally TDP’s Nasyam Mohammed Farooq there. Pawan Kalyan’s brother Chiranjeevi is married to Arjun’s aunt Surekha Konidela.
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