Tirupati,   In the run up to the Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll, ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy V. on Monday took potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the saffron party leaders were pretending that 'simple deposits in the election will propel their candidate to become the chief minister'.

"People are laughing at your dramas before the Tirupati bypoll. Behaving like your candidate will become the CM on getting deposits in the bypoll," mocked Reddy.

He told the BJP leaders to continue 'acting' and 'fooling' people but claimed that the voters will bless the YSRCP again in the bypoll.

The Rajya Sabha MP made these comments in reply to Andhra BJP chief Somu Veerraju's recent claims on Pawan Kalyan that BJP supporters should 'always' take care of the actor-politician.

"Modi likes Pawan Kalyan very much. During the 2014 elections, there were public meetings in Tirupati, Guntur, Bhimavaram and Visakhapatnam. Kalyan spoke while it was raining on that day. Even Modi was drenched in the rain," said Veerraju.

According to the BJP leader, Narendra Modi reportedly told Veerraju that they should always take good care of Kalyan. Veerraju said that Modi despite being the future Prime Minister of India took Kalyan in his own helicopter for seven election meetings back then.

He claimed that even the current Home Minister Amit Shah also holds the actor in similar high regard.

"There are some issues in my mind which I do not want to talk about now. We have to respect him (Kalyan) and make him the chief of this state. This idea has always been there in the party (BJP). This issue is 100 per cent true," claimed Veerraju.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader hit back at Reddy for meddling in their party matters and criticized him that he is allegedly roaming free after duping the Courts.

He said the BJP leaders will tell the Tirupati people what they gave them and mocked him back that he could go back to the jail after his bail gets cancelled.

Reddy was also jailed along with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy some years ago during the Congress government for allegedly indulging in corruption.

At the same time, Kalyan's relationship with the BJP keeps taking curious turns regularly.

After endearing himself to the BJP before the 2014 polls, the actor got disenchanted with the saffron party a few years later for not bestowing the special category status on the southern state, which was promised in Parliament during bifurcation.

The Janasena founder even convened a large meeting to criticize the BJP and highlighted the special category status denial.

He proceeded to sever ties with the BJP in the run up to the 2019 polls and contested alone in the elections which resulted in the Janasena facing a humiliating debacle.

In fact Kalyan lost in both the places he contested for the Assembly from Bhimavaram and Gajuwaka and also failed to retain the loyalty of Janasena's lone Dalit MLA, Rapaka Varaprasad, who won from Amalapuram.

However, a few months after the 2019 polls, Kalyan pulled off a volte-face and patched up with the BJP, claiming that he never distanced himself from the party in power at the Centre and several states in the country.

The actor also mellowed down after reconciling with the BJP, ending his ferocious belligerent speeches and antics, including toeing the saffron party's religious politics line.

Though Veerraju claimed that the party members should revere the actor, the relationship between the Telangana BJP wing leaders and Kalyan does not seem to be very cordial.

All eyes in the southern state are on the Scheduled Castes (SC) reserved Tirupati bypoll on April 17.