Vijayawada: Reiterating that AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had become paranoid and had been trying to make the Income-Tax raids a big issue with the help of his friendly media, the YSR Congress has said that the TD leader was not above the law and the ongoing raids were simple operational procedures.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, party spokesperson Ambati Rambabu said, “Chandrababu Naidu has been playing foul by taking sides giving viewpoints instead of news. Naidu’s been raking up the raids topic time and again which is not an issue at all and his friendly media guilt is glaring since he did not react to his Telangana counterpart, who used the choicest epithets, in the cash for vote and other issues which shows that he is scared on various counts.”
“It was Chandrababu Naidu who had pumped in huge money into politics right from the days he had usurped the party and power from NTR. He brought in corporate culture into the field by roping in industrialists into politics and the cabinet,” he said.
Rambabu added that the Opposition legislators were bought like corporate take-overs and Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan had openly quoted Nara Lokesh as telling him that huge money had been parked in all the constituencies for putting it to use during the ensuing elections.
“A person with such a history sheet, making noises when IT raids were carried out on some business houses, owned not only by TD but also by YSRCP, sounded ridiculous and his friendly media were describing the raids as vindictive and an assault on democracy was far from objectivity,” he added.
“When similar raids were carried out on our leader, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the same media had projected it in the opposite manner and sometimes went overboard describing the events as an official mouthpiece. While Chandrababu Naidu has been behaving in an irrational manner, the simple fact is the enforcement authorities within the state government like Excise, ACB and others will conduct raids on the offenders which is the normal procedure,” he said.
“Chandrababu Naidu’s fear comes out of the guilt of corruption and the huge money he has stashed away at various places. We warn him that he is not above the law. He had made a hue and cry over the arrest warrant in the Babli protest case giving the impression that he should not be questioned, but everyone is equal before law,” Rambabu added.
The YSRC leader further said that there were cases foisted on their party leaders, while they protested against the Special Category Status (SCS). “We honoured the law, attended the court and we were absolved from all charges,” he said.
