Hyderabad: The leader of Opposition in the AP Assembly, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, continued his vicious verbal diatribes against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, saying the people should attack him with slippers whenever and wherever they saw the CM.
The loose-talk drew sharp criticism from Telugu Desam leaders who, in one voice, condemned Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and warned him of serious consequences. Protest demonstration were also held against Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy in some areas.
The Opposition leader, who was currently in Anantapur district to console families of the farmers who committed suicide, said Mr Naidu has failed to keep up his promises to the people in the last two years and hence he should be punished.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy is known for making nasty comments in the past too, both in the Assembly and outside. His comments ignited a chain reactions from ruling Telugu Desam party leaders right from ministers to local leaders acr-oss the state on Friday.
When Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy entered Yadiki near Tadipatri town in Anantapur district on Friday, some followers of Tadipatri Telugu Desam MLA J.C. Prabhakara Reddy tried to stop his convoy by raising slogans against him. Seve-ral Jagan effigies were burnt by scores of Telu-gu Desam leaders across Anantapur district.
Police deployed at Yad-iki had a tough time controlling the situation, and they repeatedly app-ealed to Telugu Desam cadres not to disturb the Opposition leader’s programme, but to no avail.
While the Yatra was to begin at Yadiki, rival groups took out rallies to the bus stand area. A heated argument and slogans from both sides created tense situation for some time, and police forcibly sent the TD cadres out of the area. Then, another group of TD men from Tadipatri were menacingly proceeding to the Jagan meeting site to express their protest at the YSRC leader. Police stopped Jagan’s Yatra for a few minutes to clear the route from the protestors. Additional forces have been posted at Yadiki and enroute to villages of the yatra.
Despite protests, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated his controversial remarks on Friday too during the public meeting in Yadiki.
Reacting to the series of protests from all parts of the state, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy asked, “What is wrong if Naidu is beaten with slippers for fooling the people of the state in the name of a Nava Nirmana Deeksha? Naidu is least bothered about the spate of suicides by farmers.”
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said Mr Naidu failed to get special category status for the state but was passing time with deekshas. “The chief minister back-stabbed farmers, weavers, Dwcra women and students. Yet, he is claiming that farmers are happy in the state,” he said. Tadipatri MLA Mr Prabhakara Reddy made a scathing attack on Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy for his comments.
Reminding the people of an incident in Kadapa in 1994, where late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s supporters hurled chappals on the dias where then Prime Minister P.V. Nar-asimha Rao was present, he said, “Jagan’s father had encouraged the system of throwing slippers on leaders. Now, he continued with the culture. The people would teach him a lesson soon.”
Meanwhile, Mr Naidu said Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy has no right to continue in politics, has no shame even after he was jailed for 16 months.
