VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched a broadside against former Chief Minister and YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for the large scale misuse of public money for the construction of luxurious buildings at Rushikonda. Naidu, along with the people’s representatives and the media, inspected the buildings constructed at Rushikonda on Saturday.
Later addressing the media, Naidu said the entire structure built under the directions of Jagan, violated all the laws of the land. “I have not seen a Chief Minister destroying the environment to build a palace to fulfil his whims and fancies. Some heartbreaking facts are coming to light now. Earlier, no one, including the media, was allowed to visit the construction site. It was a highly guarded secret. The YSRC government also misled the National Green Tribunal, the Supreme Court, and the High Court,” Naidu observed.
He further said this was an example of how a few people could use the State government as a shield to implement their agenda. “Me and my friend Pawan Kalyan (Deputy CM) had tried to visit this place. But we were not allowed to visit it. But today, we have the onus to tell the people what has really happened here,” Naidu averred.
Attributing this to the power of democracy, Naidu said people gave this power to him by electing the TDP-led NDA in the recent elections.
“Only kings and emperors in the past built this kind of lavish structures. I don’t think even the President of India’s palace has such a huge corridor like that of Rushikonda Palace,” he observed.
Naidu said he became emotional and was perturbed when witnessed the scale of lavishness that the previous regime had splurged on the palace. “A whopping Rs 36 lakh was spent on a bathtub, fancy fans, and out-of-the-world chandeliers were installed. Marble was imported. I have visited many countries and dignitaries. But I never saw such lavishness in my long political life,” he said.
Naidu recalled that YSRC leaders were saying that the palace was built for the President of India and the Prime Minister. He mentioned that they stayed in Navy Guest House of the Eastern Naval Command when they visited Vizag, and even those facilities are humble.
The Chief Minister opined that the previous government could have spent Rs 400 crore on the completion of projects in North Coastal Andhra. “They could have filled the potholes and repaired roads with that money,” he remarked.
Calling for a debate on the subject of impropriety and lack of accountability, Naidu said the public should decide whether they would let such people occupy important positions.
“We will show these buildings to the general public. Because I don’t understand how and in which way we could use these palaces. I don’t understand the need for a camp office here. They must answer if they respect the people and fear their verdict. The previous regime thought that it would stay in power forever and built palaces all across the State. They cheated the people of Visakhapatnam in the name of Capital City,” he said.
He sought suggestions on the future use of the palatial palaces and said soon his government would decide on the future course of action.
