Honorary President of YSR Congress Party, Y.S. Vijayamamma, targeted Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and the State government for their ‘failures’ and expressed confidence in the return of the ‘Rajanna’ regime with her son and Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy as the head.
Addressing a public meeting here while welcoming former Tungaturti TDP legislator Sankineni Venkateswar Rao into the YSRCP, Ms. Viyajamma posed a question as to how Mr. Naidu proposed to implement the loan waiver scheme, which he had been promising since his ‘padayatra’.
Gangi Reddy, former Market Committee chairman, and the followers of Mr. Rao, joined the fledging party.
Former Minister V. Purshotham Reddy and Telangana protagonist J. Balakishta Reddy, who were recently admitted into the YSRC, were present. B. Somi Reddy, YSRC district president, chaired the meeting. A large number of youth, many of who sported “YSR” T-shirts and masks, attended.
Ms. Vijayamma attacked the policies of Mr. Naidu, saying he had reopened ‘belt shops’ and burdened people by increasing the power tariff.
She faulted the Kiran Kumar Reddy government for seeking to scrap some welfare schemes initiated by her late husband, for raising RTC fares and registering cases against Left activists for their involvement in the anti-power tariff struggle.
The YSRC honorary president reiterated her allegation against the Congress and TDP for conspiring to put Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy in jail and asserted that he would come out unscathed with the blessings of the people and scores of YSR admirers.
She began the address by paying tribute to those who had committed suicide following YSR’s death and to press for the Telangana demand.
She said Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy would have consoled the suicide victims’ families, but could not. Instead, he had asked her to do so.
She declared that both YSR and her son were not against Telangana, while listing the steps taken by the YSR government to develop the region.
Mr. Venkateswar Rao explained the reasons for leaving the TDP, while denying the charge that he was an ‘opportunist’.
He accused Mr. Naidu of harbouring opportunists and ignoring dedicated partymen like him. Mr. Purshotham Reddy and former Minister D. Ravinder Naik spoke at the meeting.
