VIJAYAWADA: Upset at the YSRC’s defeat in the Nandyal bypoll, party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy said the TDP may have “hit me now, but one day I too will get a chance to hit back” at the yellow party and described the defeat as a temporary setback. Addressing journalists at Hyderabad after the results were announced, Jagan Mohan Reddy thanked all the people who extended support to the party “despite threat and coercion by the ruling party”.
He said that he would accept the people’s verdict, but it was a mistake for Naidu to claim victory. “The blatant misuse of official machinery, scaring away voters with threats that their pensions and other sops would be withdrawn and the use of police force for political gains besides rampant distribution of cash has led to their victory in the bypolls,” he alleged. The YSRC chief also added that it could be a referendum only if byelections were held to all the 20 constituencies where MLAs had defected.