In a sensational statement, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and former Union Minister Chinta Mohan said the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the State will not complete three years of governance and that its fall “is imminent”.
Addressing the media here on March 9, Dr. Mohan reiterated his prediction made last year and insisted that the Jagan regime would collapse owing to its undemocratic approach, spate of threats, intimidatory tactics against rivals and unrestrained nepotism. He also maintained that most of the Cabinet Ministers, who had failed to secure an appointment with the Chief Minister, were a dejected lot.
Dubbing Mr. Reddy “the weakest Chief Minister” the State had witnessed, Dr. Mohan said this was evident from the manner the Centre was bulldozing ahead with the Vizag Steel plant privatisation issue. “Jagan might have visited Delhi several times, but the Centre tends to ignore him and his pleas. The privatisation would not have happened under stronger Chief Ministers like J. Vengala Rao, M. Chenna Reddy or Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy”, he stressed.
He flayed the Jagan regime for spending ₹600 crore towards “image building”, in the garb of door delivering ration to the public.
Taking exception to the installation of a statue for Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in front of SVIMS hospital, the third for him in the city, Dr. Mohan wondered what the former Chief Minister had done for SVIMS or Tirupati during his regime. “When there is no statue for Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi or P.V. Narasimha Rao, why do we need a third statue for YSR in Tirupati?”, he asked.
He cautioned bureaucrats and officials against “blindly toeing the political line”, adding they would pay a heavy price for it.
Releasing a copy of a letter from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pertaining to the clearance secured for the Dugarajapatnam port in 2012, Dr. Mohan, along with AICC member K. Prameelamma, alleged Mr. Reddy and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had deliberately shelved Dugarajapatnam port project for their own political ends, to the detriment of tens of thousands of unemployed youth and farmers of the region.
