Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Credit: X/@ysjagan
Hyderabad: YSRCP supremo and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy launched a scathing attack on Chandrababu Naidu while also training his guns at Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi asking him why was he not talking about 'Vote Chori' in Andhra Pradesh and also about Arvind Kejriwal's loss.
Responding to a question during a press conference in Tadepalli on Wednesday, Jagan alleged that chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is in touch with Rahul Gandhi through Telangana chief minister, A Revanth Reddy and hence he does not talk about alleged atrocities taking place in Andhra Pradesh.
"When Rahul Gandhi talks about vote-chori, why does he not make a statement on Andhra, where the highest 12.5 per cent is the vote difference between what was announced versus on the counting day when the votes were counted. Why does he not speak about Arvind Kejriwal? When Arvind Kejriwal himself lost an MLA election. He doesn't.
Rahul Gandhi does't talk about Andhra because Chandrababu Naidu is in touch with Rahul Gandhi through Revanth Reddy on a hotline. What should I comment on someone like Rahul Gandhi, who himself isn't sincere about what he does? Congress people never talk about Chandrababu Naidu. Congress Andhra in-charge Manickam Tagore only targets me. But, never talks about atrocities happening in Andhra under TDP rule. Rahul Gandhi doesn't speak about Andhra. Why is that so? Because Chandrababu Naidu is on a hotline with Rahul Gandhi,” asked Jagan.
TDP's response
However, Naidu’s son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh reacted sharply to Jagan's comments saying, that their only true ‘hotline’ is with the people of Andhra Pradesh.
"Forget your ‘vote chori’ excuses — you were voted out because people were tired of your ‘note chori’ in scam after scam. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Your baseless attempts to mislead will fail. Our double-engine sarkar is here to deliver, and under the leadership of Narendra Modi Ji and N Chandrababu Naidu Garu, Andhra Pradesh will rise to No.1 again!” Lokesh said in a post on X.
Earlier, Jagan demanded fresh elections under the supervision of central forces and in a fair manner, as he alleged that the polls held to Pulivendula and Ontimitta ZPTCs on August 12 were just a mockery of democracy.
Jagan he said the elections that were held on Tuesday have just heckled at the democratic spirit as all YSRCP agents were driven away along with the Party sympathizers whose forms and slips were snatched and torn away.
"YSRCP ZPTC candidates are here to move the court seeking to cancel the elections," he said.
Describing the election as the most atrocious and undemocratic, the YSRCP chief said, Chandrababu Naidu has set in a very bad precedent which is dangerous to democracy, and the spirit of elections is lost by such nefarious deeds as they were held under the cover and shield of police and outsiders taking over the booths and resorting to large-scale rigging.
He called Naidu a mobster.
For about 10,600 votes in 15 booths, a posse of 700 police was deployed not to ensure peaceful elections but to terrorize voters, and the jumbling method employed by shifting polling booths was only to threaten voters midway or send them back.
"This is a dangerous trend, as the State Election Commission did not consider our complaints on the atrocities, violence, and police bias, and did not respond to our pleas to make the CCTV footage public. We will be moving the court as well, " he said adding that democracy should be protected.
On Rahul Gandhi raising the issue of SIR, Jagan said, "Rahul didn't join us when we raised a similar issue after the 2024 elections, where there was a variation of 12 per cent between the votes polled and counted."