Andhra Pradesh Home Minister V Anitha responded to criticism from Jana Sena Party (JSP) president K Pawan Kalyan about increasing crimes against women in the state. Anitha said she views the criticism as constructive and is committed to improving the situation. The JSP and Anitha's party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), are in an alliance led by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

“I know why he said what he said, and it inspires me to do better and meet everyone’s expectations,” Anitha said, mentioning that she held a telephone conversation with Kalyan. According to Anitha, a two-time MLA from the Payakaraopeta (SC) Assembly Constituency, she attempts to address the issues raised by criticism rather than becoming alarmed.

“I think that he was encouraging me to do more, be more aggressive in handling the law and order situation, and I take it as encouragement. I understand the role and responsibilities of a home minister, and I do not think he referred to me as a failure. As Cabinet colleagues, we also discuss these issues during Cabinet meetings and he is very supportive,” she asserted as a response to Kalyan’s remarks while speaking at Pithapuram Monday.

Anitha hinted that the JSP chief might be referring to the Tirupati incident last week in which a four-year-old was raped and strangled to death by a relative. "I think I know which incident he was referring to when he spoke about crimes against children and women," she said. “He was very pained by one or two recent incidents of violence against women. He also mentioned that he was pained and disgusted by social media posts which targeted women with obscene and vulgar words,” she said.

Anitha accused the previous YSRCP government of failing to address violence against women and explicit social media posts. She said the government is working to change the police force to respond forcefully to these incidents and uphold law and order. In an apparent criticism of Anitha, Kalyan claimed that if he replaced her, the law and order situation would be different. Kalyan, an actor who became a politician, claimed that the previous YSRCP government, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, did not take action against criminals, which has contributed to the current issues in the state.

Anitha, 45, left her teaching job to enter politics in 2013. She became a target of obscene messages and trolling on social media. Anitha won her first election as an MLA in 2014 from the Payakaraopeta Assembly constituency. However, it wasn’t until 2021, when she joined the TDP politburo and became the head of the TDP’s Women’s Wing, the AP Telugu Mahila, that online harassment increased, often involving vulgar language. In 2019, she ran for office in Kovvuru but lost to YSRCP’s Taneti Vanitha.