Controversy Over Missing Pawan Kalyan Photo in Pension Ad!

As promised, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu kicked off the NTR Bharosa pension scheme by personally handing out pensions to beneficiaries in Penumaka village, Mangalagiri assembly segment, on Monday morning.

The Naidu government took out full-page advertisements in all major state newspapers, except Sakshi, which is promoted by his rival YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. These ads described the event as a “pensionla panguda” (festival of pensions) across the state.

This pension scheme isn’t entirely new, as pensions have been distributed to various groups for years. The only change is an increase in the pension amount by Rs 1,000 for most beneficiaries, and by Rs 3,000 for the disabled.

Since this is the first major initiative of the Naidu government after the TDP-led National Democratic Alliance came to power last month, it’s understandable that they want to publicize the enhanced pension distribution scheme.

However, what caught everyone off guard was the absence of a picture of Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan in the advertisements. In previous government ads, Pawan Kalyan’s picture was featured alongside Naidu’s.

Naidu had even instructed authorities statewide to display framed photographs of both the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister in all government offices. So, the missing picture of Pawan Kalyan in the pension distribution ad shocked his fans.

The ad only featured Naidu and N T Rama Rao, after whom the NTR Bharosa scheme is named. While there have been no official protests from Pawan Kalyan’s camp, his fans have started voicing their concerns on social media.

They noted that in Telangana government ads, the photograph of Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is always shown alongside Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

Whether the omission was accidental or intentional, it would be wise for Naidu to avoid such controversies in the future to prevent any impression of discord between him and Pawan Kalyan.