VIJAYAWADA: Main opposition Telugu Desam is suddenly finding itself under a deluge of attacks from ruling YSR Congress leaders, particularly ministers. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy pulling up his cabinet colleagues for remaining mute to TD criticisms has put spurs under them. Political atmosphere in the state has suddenly heated up.
Senior political analysts say intensity in politics is high, even though assembly general elections are still 18 months away. They opine that ministers appear suddenly changed. This will surely help the ruling party cope with onslaughts of opposition parties.
Jagan Mohan Reddy had three months ago launched his Mission Election 2024, stipulating for his party leaders and workers the target of winning all 175 MLA seats in the state. He instructed all legislators to conduct mass contact Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam programme. The CM wanted them to visit every house in their respective constituency without fail and resolve issues of the family living there.
He further sanctioned ₹20 lakh for every village / ward secretariat and ₹2 crore to every assembly constituency for taking care of demands arising during the mass contact programme.
Every month since the recent past, the Chief Minister has been reviewing progress of his legislators. Nearly 40 legislators are expected to lose their tickets due to their poor performance graphs.
Jagan Mohan Reddy is particularly angry with TDP for making allegations against his family members, mainly his spouse Bharati, whose name has been linked to the Delhi liquor scam. He questioned the silence of ministers over the false allegation. He threatened to sack those ministers who appear lax in defending the party’s reputation. The warning worked as from the very next day, YSRC leaders started attacking TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, his son Lokesh, MLC, and other opposition leaders.
Information minister Ch. Venugopala Krishna was off the block from Thursday. Recalling that Naidu had begun weeping over remarks made against his wife Bhuvaneswari, the minister maintained that no one had insulted Naidu’s wife. But Chandrababu shed tears and wept. He questioned how Naidu can now insult Bharati by linking her name to Delhi liquor scam.
This was the trigger for ministers Botsa Satyanarayana, Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Merugu Nagarjuna and, former minister Perni Venkataramaiah alias Nani, apart from other leaders, to lambast Naidu, Lokesh and TD leaders.
On Friday, ministers Gudivada Amarnath, Dharmana Prasada Rao, Budi Mutyala Naidu, Jogi Ramesh, Peedika Rajanna Dora and Seediri Appalaraju, former minister Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani and other leaders pointed guns at TD leaders.
Countering false allegations about Delhi liquor scheme, they lambasted Naidu for launching the Amaravati Maha Padayatra 2.0 from Amaravati to Arasavilli. They termed it as TD’s Dandayatra (invasion) on north Andhra.
