Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday appealed to the people of the State “not to believe the lies” against his government being propagated by the Telugu Desam Party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu, his “adopted son” Pawan Kalyan and the “yellow media” supporting them.
Addressing a public meeting at Nagari, in connection with the release of the III tranche of financial aid under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Mr. Naidu had lost faith in the calibre of his son Nara Lokesh, and hence had been depending on actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan. “To come to power, Mr. Naidu is capable of resorting to such acts, conspiracies, rioting, and lies. I urge the people to realise the truth, and judge my government only by considering the benefits you are getting,” the Chief Minister said.
Despite becoming chief minister thrice, Mr. Naidu did not implement a single welfare programme worth mentioning, he said, and alleged that Mr. Naidu came to power by backstabbing N.T. Rama Rao and by following unscrupulous ways. “He is desperate to come back to power using provocation, conspiracies, riots, and unethical politics. The recent Angallu and Punganur incidents in Chittoor district are examples of Mr. Naidu’s mindset. When the police suggested that he should follow the route map permitted by them, Mr. Naidu had deliberately tried to violate the norms, and incited the party cadres, which led to injuries to 47 policemen, while one constable lost an eye,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
“The prime intention of Mr. Naidu was to provoke the police to open fire so that he could manipulate and politically gain from the situation if any deaths occurred,” he alleged.
Ridiculing the move of Mr. Naidu to lodge a complaint with the Central Election Commission on “bogus votes” and on an “attempt to murder against him by the police”, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that it was Mr. Naidu who was responsible for the bogus votes in the State, and it was he who prompted the attack on the police with lethal weapons.
The Chief Minister said that Mr. Naidu had come to power in 2014 with a false election manifesto. ‘‘Mr. Naidu had betrayed the farmers with a false promise of loan waiver of ₹80,000 crore and also the DWCRA groups with a similar promise. He cheated the SC, ST, BC, and minorities with fake assurances. Mr. Naidu is known for throwing his party’s manifesto into the dustbin after elections, but I follow the manifesto like a Bible, Koran, and Bhagavad Gita,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
The Chief Minister maintained that Andhra Pradesh was doing much better than the Central government in many welfare schemes, particularly in the education and health sectors. “The dearth of specialty doctors as a national average stands at 61%, but in A.P. it is just 3.98%. Andhra Pradesh stood first in ease of doing business at the national level for three consecutive years,” he said.
Sops for weavers
Responding to the requests of Tourism Minister and Nagari MLA R.K. Roja to look into the problems of weavers in Nagari, the Chief Minister announced that the State government would withdraw the “electricity duty” on the powerloom sector to benefit them. He announced that the pending arrears of ₹21 crore had been paid to the workers of the defunct cooperative sugar factory near Renigunta. He promised that the linking of three reservoirs with the Galeru Nagari water project in Chittoor district would be completed on a priority basis.
Later, the Chief Minister formally pressed the button to release ₹680.44 crore into the accounts of 8.44 lakh mothers, benefitting 9.32 lakh students under the scheme.
Deputy Chief Minister K. Narayanaswamy, Energy Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy, Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, and the YSRCP MLAs from Chittoor and Tirupati districts were among those present
