‘Assembly not Jagan empire to behave as he likes’: TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu slams Andhra CM

VIJAYAWADA: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has slammed the YSRC government for “misleading” and “betraying” the poor beneficiaries by “spreading fake news and false claims” on the pensions, ration cards and other benefits.

Naidu criticised Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for wrongly claiming that the YSRC government was giving 61.94 lakh pensions.

The records show that only 52.90 lakh pensions were given in January, 2020. This was clearly lesser than 54.19 lakh pensions given by the TDP regime in April 2019, he pointed out.Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the TDP chief said the Chief Minister was spreading lies that the TDP gave pensions only at the time of elections.

Falsehoods and counter attacks have become the ruling party’s modus operandi to defame the TDP. On the other hand, volunteers were finalising the list of beneficiaries and deleting the TDP sympathisers from it, which led to reduction in the number of beneficiaries, he alleged. 

Responding to Jagan’s remarks that TDP member Nimmala Rama Naidu should not be allowed to enter the Assembly, Naidu said the Assembly was not Jagan’s empire to behave as he likes. “It was only when the ruling YSRC members targeted Rama Naidu calling him ‘Drama Naidu’ that our members called Jagan ‘Jail Reddy’,’’ he said. 

“The government is erasing all signs of democracy from the State. The Opposition was not being given mike in the Assembly even to express its dissent and to announce a walkout. It is the Chief Minister who deserves to be given a privilege notice, not the TDP members,’’ he observed.

The TDP chief said that serious loss was caused to the SCs, STs, BCs and Muslim minorities under the direct benefit transfer scheme. The government should give 50 per cent benefits to the BCs, going by their population.

In the appointment of Vice-Chancellors to the universities, persons from a particular caste were given priority, he alleged. 

“Now, four advisors of a single caste have shared different regions of the State between themselves. One advisor was acting superior to the DGP and he was deciding which TDP leaders should be implicated in false cases and which of them should be arrested,’’ he alleged. Naidu asked what right YSRC Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Sai Reddy has to hold total control in the North Andhra districts, where there were enough BC leaders who have the capacity to run their area peacefully. He  also alleged that over 310 attacks took place on women in just 18 months of the YSRC rule.