A day after YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy ended his padayatra and launched a scathing attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu, the latter’s son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh, hit back.
Calling Jagan an actor, whose script was written in New Delhi, Lokesh alleged that Jagan never spoke a single word against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to grant Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh among other promises made during bifurcation.
Lokesh was addressing a ‘Janmabhoomi – ma ooru’ programme at Peddapuram in East Godavari district. Before training his guns at Jagan, Lokesh also criticised Narendra Modi. Lokesh alleged that Jagan and Modi had joined hands and as many as 28 cases under Section 420 (Cheating) of the IPC against Jagan, were being watered down.
“Though it's PM Narendra Modi who should accord SCS for the state, I ask you all if Jagan ever spoke against Modi. In the speech he gave for one hour and forty minutes speech after the conclusion of his padayatra, did he say a single word against Modi?” Lokesh asks.
Questioning the 'silence' on special category status and steel plant in Jagan's ‘own’ Kadapa district, Lokesh alleged that Modi and Jagan had decided to create hurdles for the state’s development.
Lokesh alleged that the YSRCP MPs resigning from the Lok Sabha and the attack with a ‘cockfight knife’ on Jagan at the Visakhapatnam airport, were both staged after an understanding with the Centre.
“The script was written in Delhi. The action took place in Vizag airport and the assailant was an YSRCP activist," Lokesh alleged.
Lokesh said that he decided to rename Jaganmohan Reddy after seeing the ‘drama’ that Jagan was staging in coalition with Modi.
“After seeing all these dramas, I decided to call him Jagan Modi Reddy instead of Jaganmohan Reddy,” Lokesh said.
Lokesh also accused Jagan of disrespecting 68-year-old Naidu, who was as old as his (Jagan's) father, but not speaking a single word about Modi who ‘back stabbed’ the state by denying it funds.