Vijayawada: AP ministers Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao and K. Atchannaidu on Wednesday criticised YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Rao slammed Mr Reddy for extending his support to the NDA when he had challenged their MPs to resign after the Parliament session. He said Mr Reddy was in fact extending support to the TD government as there are two of their ministers in the Centre while the BJP has two ministers in AP.
While speaking to media here, Mr Rao asked how Mr Reddy could face them. He said the YSRC chief and party Rajya Sabha member V. Vijay Sai Reddy had rushed to Delhi to escape jail, as earlier he had bowed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to avoid being in prison. The TD would go for elections with the BJP in 2019 elections as in 2014, he said.
He claimed within one hour of Mr Reddy’s meeting with Mr Modi and addressing a press conference, YSRC leaders had contacted TD saying that they were ready to defect. “As Mr Reddy has raised the white flag, the post of opposition leader has become vacant,” Mr Uma said.
Mr Atchennaidu asked why Mr Reddy did not raise a condition that he would support the BJP only if AP was granted special status. “This clearly shows his personal motive,” Mr Atchennaidu said. He pointed out that Mr Reddy had earlier said that the BJP and TD were cheating Muslims.
Mr Atchennaidu condemned the YSRC chief for saying that the CM’s foreign visits were “picnics”. He said Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan had supported the TD and no party would ally with the YSRC.
