The Andhra Pradesh Government should take immediate steps to address the problems of handloom weavers in the State and set up a corporation for them with a corpus fund of Rs 1,000 crore, as sought by them, according to Jana Sena leader and film star Pawan Kalyan.

He was addressing a convention of handloom weavers at Chinakakani village in Guntur district on Monday evening. He said it was unfortunate that the 11 products reserved for the handloom sector were being produced on powerlooms and there was no enforcement mechanism to prevent it. The interests of the handloom weavers were being sacrificed and the Government was merely remaining a silent spectator, he said.

He said he had agreed to be the brand ambassador for handloom products, as "handloom products represent our national culture. We should encourage them to preserve our national identity and culture."

He said his party, Jana Sena, would certainly contest in 2019 elections and strive for social transformation. It was most unfortunate that the Union Government had first promised special category status to Andhra Pradesh and then gone back on it, offering instead of it a so-called special package. "Now the central leaders are saying that no special legislative sanction is required even for that special package. It is really regrettable that the leaders are indulging in such prevarication all the time. They should not deceive people with empty promises," he alleged.

Pawan Kalyan offered lemon juice to the fasting leaders of handloom weavers and persuaded them to call off their hunger strike.

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