Denial of permission to the TDP’s public meetings and rallies, and even peaceful protests such as candlelight processions stating that Section 30 of the Police Act and Section 144 of the CrPC are in force reflects the fear in the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) about the main opposition party’s imminent victory in the ensuing general elections, says former Minister Nakka Ananda Babu.
Addressing the media at the State party office, near here, on Sunday, Mr. Ananda Babu said the police were facilitating the YSRCP programmes and preventing the disenchanted crowds from leaving halfway through the meetings.
“Clearly, the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh have one set of rules and the ruling party another. The authoritarian rule of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is evident,” he said. The Chief Minister was not changing his ways in spite of widespread protests, he added.
The Dalit Ministers and MLAs had given up their obligation to their communities. They had been subservient to the Chief Minister right from the beginning. The YSRCP’s Samajika Sadhikara Yatra was a farce as the BCs, SCs, STs and minorities had suffered a lot in the last more than four years, as they were treated as a vote bank, and the welfare schemes targeted at them were confined to rhetoric, the TDP leader alleged.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was looking to win the elections by foisting false cases against important leaders of the opposition parties with the belief that the parties would buckle under pressure in their absence, he observed.
