The TDP ended the YSR Congress’ rule within the just-concluded elections, profitable 135 of 175 seats.
Hyderabad:
The battle for the chief minister’s chair could have resulted in Andhra Pradesh, however a bigger battle over furnishings is heating up.
Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP ended 5 years of rule by the YSR Congress Get together and its chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy within the just-concluded elections – profitable 135 of 175 seats – and has begun pulling out the alleged skeletons in its opponent’s closet.
After alleging that Mr Reddy had constructed a Rs 500-crore “hilltop palace” in Visakhapatnam as a camp workplace, the TDP is now calling the previous chief minister a ‘furnishings chor‘ (thief), claiming that he has held on to furnishings and fittings price crores at his residence-cum-camp workplace in Tadepalli, which had been paid for by the taxpayer.
The epithet can be payback for the same cost that was hurled by the YSR Congress at TDP chief and former meeting speaker, Kodela Siva Prasad Rao. A collection of instances had been filed towards Rao and he was additionally referred to as a ‘furnishings chor‘, a humiliation that allegedly led to him dying by suicide in September 2019, based on his son, Kodela Sivaram.
Rao was accused of diverting furnishings purchased for his use, when he grew to become the primary speaker of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh in 2014, to a showroom run by Mr Sivaram. The allegations had been made by the YSR Congress after it defeated the TDP within the 2019 elections.
Whereas Kodela Sivaram has made an specific accusation towards Mr Reddy, IT minister Nara Lokesh has taken a dig, asking the previous chief minister when he plans to return the furnishings.
A police criticism has additionally been filed by TDP Mahila wing chief Tejaswini in Anantapur, alleging that Mr Reddy and his associates had pushed Kodela Siva Prasad to suicide by humiliating him and submitting police instances towards him.
Rubbishing the allegations, a YSR Congress chief mentioned Mr Reddy has already written to the state authorities and mentioned that he can pay for all of the furnishings and fittings which might be on his premises.
Palatial Row
Mr Reddy is already below fireplace for an extravagant complicated of seven buildings on Rushikonda Hills, dubbed “Jagan’s Palace” by his critics, who say the Rs 500-crore complicated had been constructed to function the house and camp workplace of the chief minister, who needed to make Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh’s govt capital.
YSR Congress leaders, nevertheless, insist that it was an asset created by the federal government and belongs to not Mr Reddy however to the tourism division. “We misplaced our property when the state was bifurcated in 2014. So our chief needed to create a posh that might function a VVIP visitor home for the President, Prime Minister and others after they go to, as a venue for internet hosting worldwide friends to carry conventions, or as a luxurious vacationer keep possibility,” mentioned a celebration chief.
Former tourism minister RK Roja Selvamani had, nevertheless, informed reporters earlier this yr that the Rushikonda property had been shortlisted as an possibility for the chief minister’s camp workplace, and this had been accepted by a three-member committee, which was scouting an appropriate location. The secrecy across the construction, its opulence and its price have additionally not labored within the YSR Congress’ favour.
Tit For Tat?
The query now’s what the Chandrababu Naidu authorities will do with the property. The chief minister’s son and state minister Nara Lokesh has mentioned an inquiry shall be ordered, justice shall be achieved and the constructing shall be dedicated to the folks of Andhra Pradesh.
In 2019, one of many first actions taken by the Jagan Mohan Reddy authorities was to demolish a Praja Vedika (authorities corridor), constructed at a price of Rs 8.9 crore close to Mr Naidu’s home in Vijayawada’s Undavalli. The construction was near Mr Naidu’s coronary heart and he had requested Mr Reddy to permit it to face, but it surely was bulldozed after being declared unlawful.
The stays of the construction had been left subsequent to Mr Naidu’s residence and the chief minister has now welcomed a suggestion to transform the realm right into a museum to showcase how ruling events and governments shouldn’t operate. He has additionally likened it to the museums at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and mentioned it ought to serve for example of damaging governance and encourage folks to maneuver ahead.
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