Jagan accuses govt of ‘threatening’ YSRCP leaders
The YSRCP president alleged that the TDP had been trying to grab local bodies where it had no numbers
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday alleged that the law and order situation in the state has completely deteriorated with the ruling Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government unleashing a reign of terror on the opposition leaders and workers.
Jagan visited Papireddypalli village of Ramagiri block in Raptadu assembly constituency in Sri Satya Sai district to meet the family of YSRCP worker Kuruba Lingamayya, who was allegedly killed by his political rivals on March 30.
A tense atmosphere prevailed in the village, which is known for factional violence, as the police made elaborate security arrangements in the village fearing that Jagan’s visit might flare up feuds between the YSRCP and the TDP cadres.
Dharmavaram deputy superintendent of police (SP) Hemant Kumar said two people were arrested in connection with the murder of Lingamaiah - D Adarsh and D Manoj on April 1. “They had a quarrel with Lingamaiah’s son Manohar over a local dispute and Lingamaiah reprimanded them. This led to the murder,” he told reporters.
Speaking to reporters after consoling the family members of Lingamaiah, the YSRCP president alleged that the TDP had been trying to grab local bodies where it had no numbers, by threatening and coercing the elected members of the YSRCP with the support of police forces to win a few seats.
He warned the police against working like “watchmen” of the ruling party. “You will have to pay a heavy price for your wrongdoings, once the YSRCP returns to power in the next elections,” he said.
Jagan said in Ramagiri, the TDP has a lone member in the mandal parishad as against nine of YSRCP. “Yet the TDP leaders tried to threaten the YSRCP mandal parishad territorial constituency members (MPTCs). When they did not yield to their threats and moved court, the TDP tried to intimidate them using the local police,” he alleged.
Later in the day, he claimed that the TDP leaders unleashed attacks in which Lingamayya was beaten to death with a baseball bat. “While 20 people carried out the attack, case was registered only on two and three of the eight witnesses were TDP members and this was done only to dilute the case,” he lamented.
Jagan alleged that the TDP adopted similar tactics in several places like Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Ramakuppam and Attili in West Godavari and other places. The YSRCP leaders were attacked at various places Nandyala, Mahanandi and Pedakurupadu.
“While TDP carried out attacks on the YSRCP leader, the police foisted cases against the victims and threw them in jails,” he alleged.
He warned that all those who were responsible for the atrocities would have to bear the brunt in the coming days.
Reacting sharply to Jagan’s allegations, TDP lawmaker Paritala Sunitha questioned whether the YSRCP president came to Ramagiri to offer condolences to the family of his slain party worker or to campaign for the elections.
Sunitha rejected Jagan’s remarks calling them as “blatant lie” and that he was only reading the script given by the former MLA of Raptadu. “Yes, it was unfortunate that a YSRCP worker died in a clash in the village. But Jagan was exaggerating it saying lethal weapons were used in the clash. He is deliberately trying to incite unrest in village,” she alleged.
She also criticised Jagan for making “disparaging remarks about a sub-inspector despite being a former chief minister.” She demanded that the police department respond seriously to his comments against the police. “In fact, the police rolled out a red carpet for Jagan at the village,” she pointed out.
