VIJAYAWADA: Taking a dig at YSRCP president and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s claim that the CBI-led SIT had given him a clean chit in the ghee adulteration case, Minister for HRD and IT and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh stressed the need to effectively counter what he termed as false propaganda by the YSRCP.
“There is a ‘Team 11’ in our State. Its members are brand ambassadors for ghee adulteration, liquor adulteration and the murder of ‘babai’ (uncle). The captain of Team 11 is now claiming a clean chit in the ghee adulteration case. The chargesheet is in English.
I do not know what he read from it. After looting Rs 250 crore through adulterated liquor, they are now claiming a clean chit. We have to counter this false propaganda,” Lokesh told TDP leaders while addressing a Booth Management Workshop at the party headquarters on Friday.
Recalling the 2019 elections, Lokesh said the TDP suffered electoral damage for failing to counter fake propaganda related to the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy.
“First, they claimed Viveka died of cardiac arrest. Later, despite clear wounds caused by an axe attack, the blame was put on then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Jagan was aware of the murder, yet the YSRCP continued its false campaign. We failed to counter it at the right time and paid the price,” he said.
Asking party leaders to treat the party as their own house and the government as a rented one, Lokesh said strengthening the party was everyone’s responsibility. He said leaders earned respect in society and government because of the party.
Citing Mangalagiri and Gajuwaka Assembly constituencies as examples, he said a strong booth-level organisation helped the TDP emerge stronger.
“I took it as a challenge to win Mangalagiri, where the TDP had never won since 1985. After losing by 5,300 votes, I felt the pain but did not give up. We strengthened the party over four years and won with a huge margin,” he said.