JP disbands Pawan panel, forms new one

Hyderabad: The Joint Fact-Finding Committee (JFC) constituted by Jana Sena founder president Pawan Kalyan has fallen apart.

Lok Satta president and former IAS officer Jayaprakash Narayan, who was part of the JFC, said on Friday that they were disbanding the one constituted by the Jana Sena chief and in its place another committee with experts from various fields is being put together.

The new committee will have among others retired IAS officer K Padmanabhaiah, senior journalist C Raghavachari, anti-child labour activist Shanta Sinha and retired IPS officer HA Dora.

The new committee will study the problems that the state is facing and what should be done to it to put it back on rails. The committee would also discuss the pressing need for Special Category Status for the state and other benefits that should accrue to it from the Centre after bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

JP said the decision was taken since Pawan Kalyan had stopped showing interest in deciding what the committee should do next. The committee in which politicians, former bureaucrats and experts were members, came out with a report but he had suddenly lost interest in it, JP said, adding: “The JFC idea was Pawan Kalyan's and it had worked out details of what the state is entitled to and what it has got in actual terms and how the Telugu Desam Party had utilised the funds. The JFC’s purpose was also to discuss a roadmap to exert pressure on the Centre for SCS.

He said that the initial enthusiasm of Pawana Kaylan on formation of JFC has tapered off. “We have done a lot of number crunching and came out with a report but Pawan Kalan is not interested in it anymore.” he said.

The new committee that is being formed will go into the issues in detail and take the process to the next level. 

The panel members will represent to the Central government on what kind of help is needed. We will submit all details to the Central minister, if they give time, he said. Pawan Kalyan, in reaction to constitution of the new committee, tweeted that he would respect and welcome JP’s initiative to continue the spirit of JFC with an independent committee comprises of a team of public policy experts to probe deeper into AP Reorganisation Act and on issue of Special Category Status.