HYDERABAD: While claiming that the statewide bandh call given by his party to protest against the Centre’s refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh was a grand success, YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, accused that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is using force against people taking part in agitation demanding special status for the State which has exposed his stand on the issue.
“It is very unfortunate that the people of the State have to fight not only against the Centre for their rights, but also against their own State government. I don’t understand if he (Naidu) is the Chief Minister of AP or some other State. He should join us in our fight but instead he is trying to crush the agitation,” Jagan alleged.
Addressing reporters here on Tuesday, Jagan said that it was due to his party that the special status issue is still alive and people are taking part in agitation or else Naidu would have dumped it long back.
“If Naidu was there during the freedom struggle, he would have told freedom fighters let freedom come whenever it comes. Freedom is not a panacea to all the problems he would have told,” he said.
Accusing Naidu of working against the interest of the State, Jagan said the move of the chief minister to make the bandh unsuccessful has exposed him.
“If you(Naidu) support the special status demand, then why did you used force against the agitators. It is painful to see that he himself monitored the police action to stop agitators. His action clearly shows that he is not for special status,” he alleged.
Jagan alleged that Naidu is compromising with the interest of the state for his personal gains. “You can forget special status but five crore people of this state will not forget it. They want it and will take it at any cost. We will not rest till we are offered special status,” he asserted.