VISAKHAPATNAM: "The ‘shameless fellow’ tag aptly suits none other than chief minister Chandrababu Naidu as he is now trying to make friends with the Congress party by sending his family members to meet Rahul Gandhi after supporting the Congress candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha deputy chairman elections. He is not at all bothered to continue with the TDP’s original ‘anti-Congress’ plank. He earlier joined hands with BJP, TRS, CPI, CPM and Jana Sena parties and left them in the lurch after his need was over. Now, he is trying to build bridges with the Congress," said YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Opposition leader, on Monday.
Addressing a huge gathering at a public meeting at Kotavuratla as part of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra, Jagan made several allegations on the ruling TDP government and the chief minister. Jagan said that Chandrababu’s rule was akin to the British Raj. He follows the divide and rule policy to serve his vested interests on the basis of caste, community and region. In the last four years, the state experienced false publicity, sand mafia, call money, land scams, cheating and many other scandals. He also spent lavishly on many wasteful things, said Jagan.
Speaking on the Yetikoppaka, Tummapala, Amadalavalasa and Chodavaram sugar factories, Jagan said that whenever Chandrababu comes to power, he becomes a threat to the co-operative sector, especially to the sugar factories. Chandrababu works with a hidden agenda to hand over the factories to his benamis and followers, he alleged. Rajasekhara Reddy had sanctioned subsidies to the factories and other state governments like the UP enhanced the MSP for sugarcane but the TDP government was trying to close these sugar factories, he said.
On the Payakaraopeta and Ramayyapeta land acquisitions, Jagan flayed the government and CM Naidu for changing stand for land acquisition and payment of compensation to the victims.