VIJAYAWADA: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the state government, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, retaliated against the saffron party for the first time since he assumed office, saying that YSRC would win the 2024 elections without the support of the BJP.
The Chief Minister’s guarded response came while he was addressing a gathering after launching the distribution of Jagananna Vidya Kanuka kits worth `1,042 crore among 43 lakh schoolchildren studying in government and aided schools, at Krosuru in Palnadu district on Monday.
Terming his fight against the opposition parties as ‘Kurukshetra’, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that he has been leading the political fight alone, unlike TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu, who has the support from Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan and a section of media. Jagan lashed out at Naidu for making false promises before every election. He stated that people wouldn’t believe in the ‘kichdi’ election manifesto of the TDP, which had been plagiarised from political parties in the neighbouring states.
The CM also pointed out that the YSRC didn’t get the desired support from the saffron party as well. “The BJP may not support me but I believe in the mercy of God and the blessings of the people of Andhra,” Jagan said addressing the gathering. He further went on to say that his supporters are the reason for the welfare he has brought to each and every household.
Subba Reddy lashes out at BJP, says party leaders falling into TDP’s trap
The Chief Minister requested the people not to believe in the propaganda of the Opposition and asked them to check their households for the benefits they have derived from the government schemes. He called on the people to stand as his soldiers if they believed in the YSRC government in the last four years.
It may be noted that he BJP has been trying to gain a foothold in the state through its campaigns and chargesheets against the government. Though Jagan addressed several public meetings in the recent past where he attacked the TDP and the Jana Sena Party, the Chief Minister refrained from taking the name of BJP. While the BJP leaders in the state targeted the YSRC, Jagan Mohan Reddy had been maintaining good relations with the party national leaders and Central government.
The Jana Sena Party, which is in alliance with BJP, on the other hand had been working towards unification of all the three parties—TDP, JSP and BJP—to avoid split of anti-YSRC votes. Soon after the CM’s address, the party regional coordinator and TTD Trust Board chief YV Subba Reddy and ministers Karumuru Venkata Nageswara Rao and Gudivada Amarnath lashed out at Amit Shah.
“The BJP has fallen into the trap of TDP. The saffron party leaders from Delhi are reading out the script written by the TDP leaders, who are now in BJP,’’ Subba Reddy said. All those who shared stage with Amit Shah are those who shed their yellow clothes and joined the saffron brigade, he added.
Amarnath, on the other hand, said it was deplorable that BJP was talking about corruption. “The proposal to disinvest Centre’s stake in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant itself is a major scam,’’ the IT minister alleged.