Tirupati: V. Varaprasad, who had quit as Member of Parliament from Tirupati on the issue of Special Category Status has made some highly critical statements about the Telugu Desam (TD) and alleged warm relations between the YSR Congress and Jana Sena parties.
Speaking to media persons in Tirupati on Friday, Mr Varaprasad claimed that Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan has said he will support Jagan Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress if he gets a chance.
Mr Varaprasad said, “Pawan Kalyan felt sad about supporting the TD in the 2014 elections. Earlier, Mr Pawan Kalyan has directly spoken to me saying that he had supported TD by considering the experience of Mr N Chandrababu Naidu. Here are the statements that Pawan directly said to me: ‘I had considered the experience of Chandrababu Naidu. But, now I'm witnessing lot of corruption in the state that is being encouraged by the government. The Chief Minister and his son Mr Nara Lokesh are looting the state. I also knew that Y.S. Jagan was being targeted intentionally. If I get any chance I will definitely support Mr Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.’ These are the words Pawan Kalyan told me. It is clear that Pawan is ready to support Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy,” Mr Varaprasad said.
Sources close to Jagan Mohan Reddy denied that there was any proposal of a tie-up with the Jana Sena. A senior leader of the YSR Congress and a close associate of its leader told Deccan Chronicle: “There are no such proposals as of now. No one has approached us and we have never approached anyone about a collaboration with Jana Sena. They have already declared that they will contest in all the constituencies. There is some speculation that Jagan and Pawan will go for elections together, but we don’t think so. We are not aware whether Pawan Kalyan had this opinion to join hands with us.”
Mr Varaprasad said he is proud he has resigned his parliament membership. He said the Chief Minister has been unable to achieve Special Category Status for four years and attributed this to the fact that actually the CM was in favour of the Special Package. "He had always kept the SCS apart, as his complete concentration was on Special Package as the special package funds will be in the hands of the Chief Minister. He always wanted package rather than SCS," Mr Veraprasad alleged.
He added, "One side the Chief Minister says that the state is running low on budget, but on the other hand he has spent Rs 2000 crore on Godhavari Pushkarams without constructing any concrete structure and in Krishna Pushkarams he has spent Rs 1800 crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General has also reported corruption in the Pattiseema project. The state doesn't want such a CM who wastes public money and says we are low on budget."
