Andhra Pradesh has been turned into a ‘jungle Raj’, says Chandrababu Naidu

Mr. Naidu was addressing the inaugural session of Mahanadu, annual conclave of the party, on Wednesday.

After losing power and skipping Mahanadu a year ago, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu fired salvos at the state government asserting the YSR Congress has "miserably failed" to utilize the public mandate and Andhra Pradesh has been turned into a "jungle Raj".

The state has gone to pot and development has come to a grinding halt during one year rule of the YSRC. The state has been witnessing the results of misgovernance. Had the TDP been in power now, the coronavirus would not have spread like this. The state government has become a mute spectator to the crisis while states like Kerala succeeded in controlling the corona. Instead, it is looking for kickbacks even in purchase of bleaching powder, he alleged.

Destruction spree

Mr. Naidu was addressing the inaugural session of Mahanadu, annual conclave of the party, on Wednesday. His speech hovered around the "failures of state government", backward classes (BCs) vis a vis the TDP, and status of promises made by the YSRC as run up to elections. "The YSR Congress promised the people that it would get Special category status to Andhra Pradesh if voted to power. What happened to the promise?" he asked.

The destruction spree which began with the pulling down of Praja vedika continued till demolition of historical 'three lanterns stupa' at Vizianagaram. Arogyasethu app developer was threatened at knife point to hand over the land. They don't even have fear that it will come to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Is it not jungle Raj,he asked.

Forget the mistakes

In an apparent bid to woo the BCs and other sections of the society that distanced themselves from the party in the recent past, the TDP supremo said that the BCs have been the backbone of the party ever since inception. They sailed with the TDP for 38 years. But, there seems to be some misconceptions among them.

The party could not pay attention to the BCs though umpteen measures and schemes were implemented when TDP was in power for 5 years after bifurcation of the state. The TDP needs to win back their confidence. "Forget the mistakes, if any. I will take personal responsibility and correct the same," he said, adding, "We need to make a new beginning from this Mahanadu. The party has to go closer to the BCs, SCs, STs and minorities."

Mr. Naidu, however, did not make any explicit comments on Telangana state. Neither, he disclosed any plans for Telangana state except recalling that the TDP played a pivotal role in development of irrigation projects and Hyderabad.

For the first time, the TDP organised a virtual Mahanadu in view of lockdown due to coronavirus.