YSR Congress party leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday accused TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of continuing to misuse his office by slapping false cases against opposition workers and misappropriating state funds.

Jagan, who led a delegation of senior leaders of his party to Raj Bhavan, submitted a memorandum to Governor ESL Narasimhan seeking his intervention in preventing the Naidu government from misusing power after polling for the state assembly was held on April 11 and results were due to be announced next month.

Also read: Jagan eyes majority in Assembly, says no need for repolls

Speaking to media later, Jagan said there was a complete breakdown of law and order in Andhra Pradesh during and after the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that Naidu was misusing the police force to attack leaders of rival parties.

“Nearly 40 DSPs (deputy superintendents of police) belonging to a particular community were given posting in crucial places, where they were used to intimidate YSRC workers and foist false cases against them while sparing the TDP’s workers who indulged in large scale violence,” he alleged.

He said police had not filed any case against assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao who had created a ruckus at Inimetla village in Sattenapalli constituency on the polling day.

“He stormed into the polling station, tore his own shirt and intimidated the voters. Is it not a crime to enter the polling booth? Why haven’t the police file a case against him?” he asked.

He also said the police had not filed any case against the TDP workers who assaulted Muslims and Scheduled Caste voters in Gurajala for voting in favour of the YSRC, detained Kurupam MLA Pushpa Sri Vani Jagan in Vizianagaram and those who roughed up Dalit MLA M S Babu in Putalapattu in Chittoor district.

Also read: Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, poll panel fight over EVM theft-accused

Jagan demanded that the strong rooms where electronic voting machines (EVMs) were stored at various places should be guarded and strict vigilance should be placed by pressing para-military forces into service. He said the steps must be taken after the incident in Machilipatnam where unauthorised people had opened the strong room and there was an attempt to tamper with the EVMs.

The YSRC chief said the budget approved before the general elections was a vote-on-account one and it should be seen that Naidu did not misuse funds by giving largesse to his favoured contractors.

On Naidu’s complaint about EVMs, Jagan said it had become a habit for the TDP chief to blame somebody or some institution to cover up his imminent defeat. “Instead of gracefully accepting the people’s verdict he has been trying to make a mockery of it,” he said.

Also read: YSR Congress backs EC on EVMs, says Naidu complaining out of frustration

Jagan Reddy said they were the same EVMs which were used in 2014 when his coalition had won. “Just three months before the general elections, Congress won Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, but there were no complaints,” he pointed out.

Andhra Pradesh also held polls for the 25 parliamentary constituencies along with 175 assembly seats last week. The votes will be counted on May 23.

First Published: Apr 16, 2019 15:23 IST