As the war of words intensifies ahead of next month's Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday hit out at YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with a peculiar choice of words -- he called Jagan a ‘ganja plant.'

Campaigning in Jagan's home district of Kadapa, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president said that the Kadapa district, which gave birth to great personalities such Annamayya, Veera Brahmendra Swamy and Yogi Vemana, was like a Tulsi garden. 

"In this Tulsi garden, a ganja plant (cannabis) has also grown. He is Jagan Mohan Reddy," said Naidu, while addressing an election rally at Budvel.

Naidu, who had earlier described Jagan as the "brand ambassador of crimes," alleged that the YSRCP president was the only leader in the country who had 31 criminal cases against him.

Terming Jagan as the only problem of the state, the TDP chief urged people to ensure that YSRCP was wiped out in the polls.

Naidu claimed that Jagan was threatening violence. "People should be alert because those who killed their own uncle can do anything," said the TDP leader, alleging Jagan's involvement in the recent murder of Jagan's uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

The Chief Minister said the murder case had more twists than a detective novel and alleged that Jagan was trying to use Vivekananda Reddy's murder for political mileage.

Former MLA and MP Y S Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered in the early hours of March 14, 2019. On Sunday, Dr Suneetha Narreddy, Vivekananda’s daughter wrote to the Election Commissioner seeking an NIA or a CBI probe into her father's murder and also requested the EC to issue orders to Naidu, as he was politicizing the death while campaigning.

Elections to the 175-member Andhra Assembly and all 25 Lok Sabha constituencies are scheduled on April 11.

IANS inputs