VIJAYAWADA: A day after the attack on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan termed the incident as a drama.
Addressing the public during his Praja Galam meeting at Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, Naidu sought to know whose responsibility it was to assure proper security for the Chief Minister.
Further, he questioned, “If a stone was pelted on the Chief Minister, who should be held responsible? What were the police doing? What were the Chief Secretary and DGP doing? Why has the accused not been nabbed even 24 hours after the incident?”
Stating that he did not fear such stone attacks, the former chief minister pointed out that he was not afraid even during the Claymore Mines attack. “When stones were pelted on me in Amaravati region, the DGP at the time said it was an expression of people in a democracy. An MLA came to my house with stones and sticks to attack me and the government took a spectator stance,” he recalled.
Noting that Jagan was attacked when power supply in Singh Nagar was cut, Naidu asked the Chief Minister to resign so he can resolve the electricity issue in a short time.
Demanding to know why police were ineffective under Jagan’s regime, Naidu said, “They even failed to manage the crowd during the tripartite alliance’s public meeting in Chilakaluripet, which resulted in problems in the public address system during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech.”
As part of his Varahi Vijaya Bheri Yatra, actor-politician Pawan Kalyan addressed the gathering at Tenali in Guntur district. Dismissing the attack on Jagan as a “drama to garner public sympathy”, the JSP chief quipped, “Who knows he might have hit himself as it was dark and flowers were being showered on him.”
Recalling the 2019 rooster knife attack on Jagan at Visakhapatam Airport under CISF security, Pawan remarked, “All such attacks happen to Jagan only before elections.”
Further, he sought to know what police officers were doing at the time of the attack.
Finding fault with those trying to project that the State has suffered because a stone was hurled at Jagan, Pawan asked, “What about Amarnath, who was set ablaze for trying to protect his sister? What about the woman who was raped before her husband in Repalle? Why did justice evade Narreddy Suneetha, who has been seeking to bring the murderers of her father Vivekananda Reddy to book?”
Stones allegedly hurled at Naidu and Pawan
Stones were reportedly pelted at Naidu and Pawan during their respective public meetings on Sunday. Neither of them were hurt.
Reacting to the incident, Naidu said, “Yesterday, a stone was pelted at Jagan in the dark. However, today a stone has been was hurled at me in bright daylight. This is the handiwork of ganja batch or blade batch. Stones were also pelted on Pawan Kalyan in Tenali.”
In Gajuwaka, efforts to nab the culprit who pelted stones at Naidu proved futile.
In Tenali, when Pawan was going in a procession to address a public meeting, a stone was reportedly pelted at him. No one was hurt. People apprehended the alleged culprit and handed him over to the police.
However, Tenali DSP S Ramesh said the news was completely false. “Police have provided tight security to prevent any untoward incidents. We also confirmed it with Pawan’s security team. A few women reported that one Dileep (alleged accused) was misbehaving with them. He didn’t pelt any stone on Pawan,” he explained.