Endorsing the views of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that Andhra Pradesh has become a hotbed for ‘‘rampant corruption and anarchy’‘, Telugu Desam Party national general secretary Nara Lokesh contended that Visakhapatnam had turned into the ‘crime capital‘ of the State.
The kidnapping of the son and wife of YSR Congress Party MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana and his auditor by gangsters who themselves allegedly had links with the ruling party in the city was, he alleged, testament to his allegations, Mr. Lokesh said during his Yuva Galam padayatra.
“The four-year misrule of the YSRCP is marked by a series of scams and lawlessness,” Mr. Lokesh charged, referring to allegations of illicit silica and gravel mining being done in Nellore district.
On his 128th day of the Yuva Galam padayatra, which has until now covered a distance of 1,600 km, Mr. Lokesh underscored the need for ending the ‘anti-people‘ Jagan Mohan Reddy government, claiming that all sections of people were dissatisfied by the government’s failure on all fronts. Expressing concern over the State’s “precarious financial position”, he said it was unfortunate that the YSRCP government was not in a position to pay salaries on time to State government staff. In this context, he referred to reports that a section of the staff had locked the office of the Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ch. Venugopalakrishna in protest.
The State needed the administrative acumen of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu to end the woes of the people, he emphasised. He highlighted the seven-point election manifesto to benefit different sections of people including women, unemployed youth and farmers. He promised to protect the interests of minorities and recalled that the TDP had extended various concessions to minorities at a time when it shared power with the BJP in the State in 2014.
Suspended YSRCP MLA Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, a confidante of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, alleged that welfare and development had taken a back seat in the current regime even as mining, liquor and sand mafias rule the roost in the State.
The Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line had not seen the light of day due to non-acquisition of the required land by the State government. Major irrigation projects including the Somasila North canal faced the same fate, he charged.
Former Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi, Kaivalya Reddy, daughter of Mr. Ramanarayana Reddy, and TDP Polit Bureau member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy were among those who walked with Mr. Lokesh. Mr. Lokesh welcomed 60 second-rung leaders of the YSRCP from Atmakur, followers of Mr. Ramanarayana Reddy, into the TDP.
