TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu today kicked off his party’s campaign for the ensuing by-polls in Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies by launching an attack on late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and his son Jaganmohan on the issue of corruption.
“There is no democracy in Kadapa and Pulivendula. People here live in fear as YSR and Jagan turned these places into their fiefdom and ran riot. Many TDP workers were killed in Kadapa and Pulivendula in the last six years,” Mr. Naidu alleged, addressing a road show at Simhadripuram in Pulivendula constituency.
In contrast, the Kuppam constituency he represented was a free place where anyone could campaign in elections without any hitch, he claimed.
However, Mr. Naidu admitted that as Chief Minister between 1995 and 2004 he too had failed to an extent to curb factionalism in the region.
He said rebel leader Mr. Jagan was planning to launch his own political party only with an eye on the Chief Minister’s chair but would return to Congress if the party offered him the post.
He also took a dig at PRP chief Chiranjeevi for deciding to merge his outfit with the Congress. “He (Chiranjeevi) failed to achieve anything in politics in the last two-and-a-half years and hence merged it with the Congress under the pretext of social justice,” Mr. Naidu said.
Flaying the Kiran Kumar Reddy government, the former Chief Minister said administration in the State has miserably failed.
“This government should hang its head in shame and step down for having failed on all fronts. Farmers, weavers and all segments have been totally left in the lurch,” he lashed out.
The TDP chief began his tour from Simhadripuram where he visited families of handloom weavers. He later addressed people at Pulivendula, the hometown of YSR.
Mr. Naidu was visiting Pulivendula after a gap of six years. His last visit was for the campaign for municipal polls in 2005.
