Ch RS Sarma It was a hot, sizzling Sunday in Andhra Pradesh, as both the main contenders — the Telugu Desam Party and the Opposition YSR Congress Party — hit the campaign trail in right earnest for the elections to be held on April 11, for both the Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
Both Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jaganmohan Reddy addressed election rallies — the former in the city itself and the latter at Narsipatnam in Visakhapatnam district.
Counter-charges
Naidu targeted what he described as the “Modi-KCR-Jagan nexus” and urged people to vote for him and development, whereas Jaganmohan Reddy trained his guns exclusively on the Chief Minister and the Telugu Desam Party for all the troubles and tribulations faced by the State during the past five years. Both, however, vowed to secure special category status for the State.
Naidu said he was stretching every nerve during the past five years to take the State on the path of development, “in spite of the betrayal by the BJP and in spite of the totally negative and destructive attitude of the Opposition YSR Congress Party.” He alleged that a nexus, a covert alliance, had developed between the BJP, Jagan and the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao and “they are out to destroy the State and the nation. I am fighting for the rights of the State. They are fighting for their selfish interests. Jagan is now merely a puppet in the hands of Narendra Modi and KCR. He will mortgage the interests of the State to get out of the 11 grave cases of corruption he is currently facing in the CBI court, Hyderabad.”
‘Vote for development’
He accused the NDA government of granting a “truncated railway zone for Visakhpatnam” for electoral gains alone. He appealed to people to vote for him and for development. “Don’t vote for economic offenders with criminal minds,” he said, referring to Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijayasai Reddy — the YSR Congress leaders.
Jaganmohan Reddy alleged at Narsipatnam that the Chief Minister and the TDP government had “failed on all fronts during the past five years. Now he is indulging in a vilification campaign to save his skin, but it will be in vain. People have seen through his tricks.”
He accused the Chief Minister of “diluting the demand for the special category status by first accepting the special package and then going back on it. He failed to get the promises made to the State at the time of bifurcation fulfilled and he is now putting the blame on others and absolving himself.”
‘Agrarian crisis’
He said he would secure the special category status for the State, if the people blessed him and his party with their votes, and “we will also get the other promises fulfilled.”
Jaganmohan Reddy said there was a serious agrarian crisis in the State because of the ill-conceived policies of the State government. “The youth are jobless. The TDP government has not taken steps to fill the 2,40,000 vacancies in the government departments. We will do that as soon as we assume charge,” he said.
He also promised to set up Secretariat at the village level — grama secretariat, as he called it — and to abolish the Janambhoomi committees appointed by the TDP government in the villages. “These committees are creating havoc,” he alleged.
He appealed to people to reject the TDP and vote for him for all-round development of the State and for the proper implementation of various welfare schemes.