Telugu film star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan has announced that he will play a more active role from October in the state politics and build up the party from the grassroots level.

In a closely-fought election in 2014, it is said, Pawan Kalyan's support to the Telugu Desam-BJP alliance proved critical in the combine emerging victorious over the YSR Congress Party. His role in the 2019 elections will be as critical to the fortunes of the ruling combine, analysts say. He told the media at Amaravati on Monday that he had one or two films on hand and “from October I, shall devote most of my time to understanding people’s problems and finding solutions to them, and building up the fledgling party, Janasena, from the grassroots level.”

Earlier, he said, he had met the Chief Minister regarding provision of relief to the kidney patients in the Uddanam area of Srikakulam district and he had impressed upon the Chief Minister the need to set up a medical research centre in the area to study the problem. A team of medical experts from Harvard accompanied Pawan Kalyan.

In response to a question on whom he will support or whether he will go it alone in the 2019 elections, he said it was too early to consider those issues and right now he would focus on building up the party.

In particular, Pawan Kalyan took exception to Amit Shah’s description of Mahatma Gandhi as a “chatur baniya”. He said it was unfortunate that people in high positions were dragging even the father of the nation into caste politics.

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