Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur has launched a broadside against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for “taking the State backward through his actions.”
Calling the YSRCP a “copy of the Congress party,” the Union Minister said, “The Britishers had looted the country and encouraged religious conversions. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy seems to be doing the same.”
Participating as chief guest in a meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on the occasion of completion of its ‘Yuva Sangharshana Yatra’ here on Sunday, Mr. Thakur said both Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his predecessor N. Chandrababu Naidu hailed from Rayalaseema, but none of them did anything significant to the State even as it struggled to overcome the devastating impact of bifurcation.
No new major industries came during their tenures, and the existing ones were moving to other States due to the hostile environment in the State, he observed.
‘Liquor mafia’
“Liquor mafia is rampant in Andhra Pradesh. It is a big scandal, which should be exposed and action taken against the culprits. Similarly, ganja is being cultivated in the State extensively and exported to far-off places,” the Union Minister alleged.
Mr. Thakur said Andhra Pradesh stood in the fourth position in corruption and Telangana in the second place, and both appeared to be competing for the top slot.
He said as the State was not giving matching grants, several Centre schemes could not be implemented.
“From industrial corridors to small projects, there has not been any appreciable progress due to the State government’s negligence,” he said.
The Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, like the YSRCP dispensation in Andhra Pradesh, had put many Central schemes on the backburner. The schemes were implemented only after Yogi Adityanath had come to power in U.P.
“It is, therefore, imperative that the BJP should replace the YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh to put the State back on track,” the Union Minister said.
Addressing the gathering, BJP State president Somu Veerraju said there would be a tectonic shift in the political landscape of Andhra Pradesh, and that the YSRCP was already sensing trouble.
BJP national executive member Kanna Lakshminarayana, national secretary Y. Satya Kumar, MP C.M. Ramesh, MLC Vakati Narayana Reddy, State vice-president C. Adinarayana Reddy, BJYM State president K. Surendra Mohan and general secretary M. Vamsi were among those who spoke.
