Nara Lokesh, general secretary of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and son of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu, accused the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the State of political vindictiveness after his father was arrested by the State Police in a corruption case. Mr. Lokesh also said that he felt “let down” by the BJP and the Congress, which have maintained a studied silence on the issue.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Lokesh added that the TDP in its alliance with the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) would be fighting the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, both due in 2024 in Andhra Pradesh, together, but that questions with regard to the JSP’s continuance in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after this new alliance was a question for Mr. Kalyan and not him.
“The JSP’s continuance in the NDA while being in alliance with the TDP is something they have to answer. Mr Pawan Kalyan, in fact, had been asked this question, and he said that the BJP has to decide what it wants to do, since our alliance is now a done thing,” Mr. Lokesh said.
Mr. Naidu was arrested in the early hours of September 9, in connection with a case of corruption regarding the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation, and is under judicial remand at a jail in Rajahmundry.
Mr. Lokesh arrived in Delhi for what he has termed an effort to “put before the people of the rest of India” on how his father was being treated. Mr. Lokesh said that while the YSRCP-led government in the State had been lodging cases against anyone speaking against the State government, including 22 cases against Mr. Lokesh himself, the trigger for reviving the skill development case was a pre-poll survey.
“There was a survey that came out, the C-Voter-India Today survey, which gave 15 [out of the 25 seats in AP) Lok Sabha seats to us. This was seen as an effect of my padayatra across the State, Naidu-ji’s bus yatra, and Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s yatra finding resonance. I think they (the Andhra Pradesh Government) felt they had to act,” he added.
“Jagan Mohan Reddy was given absolute power — he got 151 out of 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh — and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and corrupt people trouble honest people, which is what has been happening in Andhra Pradesh since 2019,” he said, adding that Mr. Naidu was “just the latest victim” of a politically vindictive government.
He said it was unfortunate that the national BJP and Congress both felt unable to condemn Mr. Naidu’s arrest, but that support was forthcoming from other political parties. “I feel let down since everyone knows Mr. Naidu, that he stands for some credibility, and if something like this happens to someone like him, everyone should stand by him. He has been in public life for over four decades and the only mistake he has made was that he came in the way of this vindictive government,” Mr. Lokesh said.
He said that the TDP was hitting the streets in Andhra Pradesh to drum up public support against the arrest, and that in Delhi, TDP MPs have sought time from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, which has, till now, not been allotted.
Mr. Lokesh said he was confident that the case in which Mr. Naidu has been arrested would not stand legal scrutiny.
“The Skill Development Corporation is nothing new. This project was implemented in Gujarat in 2013 with a similar 90:10 model [90% financing by the Centre, 10% by the State]. Subsequently, other States also implemented this project — it’s a proven model. In Andhra Pradesh, money was allocated, 2,13,000 kids were trained, 80,000 of them got jobs, so the project works. In 2021, they (the Andhra Pradesh Government) filed an FIR (First Information Report) where they mentioned 37-38 accused. Investigations were carried out and they were not able to prove anything. Everyone is out on bail as nothing could be proved against them. Then the Andhra Pradesh Government went to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying there is something wrong. The ED did not send any notice. The fact of the matter remains that we haven’t done anything wrong,” Mr. Lokesh.
