TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday slammed the YSRCP government for ‘foisting’ cases against former Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and other party leaders, instead of initiating stringent action against those involved in illegal mining in the Kondapalli reserve forest area in G. Konduru mandal of Krishna district.
At a press conference after he called on the family members of Mr. Umamaheswara Rao at Gollapudi and assured them full support of the party, the TDP chief wondered how could the police book him under SC, ST Atrocities case when he was addressing a press conference at the mining site and even later, remained inside his vehicle for over nine hours following an attack on his car by “anti-social elements”. He said it was atrocious on the part of the ruling YSR Congress Party to first engineer an attack on the former Minister and then have police cases slapped against him.
He alleged that the government, with the support of the police, was resorting to gross misuse of the SC, ST Atrocities Act to victimise the Opposition TDP leaders. “The mining mafia has unleashed a loot of the forest wealth in the Kondapalli region by felling trees used by the toy-makers of Kondapalli village to earn their livelihood,” he said.
Mr. Naidu demanded the constitution of a committee with senior officers to check the mining mafia and said otherwise, the party would approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the court.
“We will not remain silent to indiscriminate loot of the public wealth. The senior officers in the police department, he alleged, had turned into puppets in the hands of the Chief Minister and that they would have to pay back for their misdeeds eventually. “The NGT has confirmed illegal mining in Visakha agency and has ordered a high level probe,” he pointed out. He called the YSRCP regime in the State “a dark chapter in the democratic history of Andhra Pradesh”.
He said there was no security for Dalits in the State and cited the case of Dalit doctor Sudhakar, who, he said, was humiliated, arrested, suspended and deprived of his salary and harassed till his death.
Mr. Naidu questioned the motive behind the sudden replacement of the Superintendent of the Rajahmundry jail after Uma was placed there. He said the rural pockets of Krishna district were gradually turning into breeding ground for rowdyism and asked people to stay bold and fight them back. “The TDP will always be there to fight against what is not right,” he said.
