YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy was given a massive welcome as he entered Vijayawada on Saturday on the 136th day of his 'Praja Sankalpam Padayatra'.
Starting at Tadepalli on Saturday morning, Jagan and a large number of YSRCP workers crossed the Krishna River along the Kolkata-Chennai highway, and entered the city. The walkathon resulted in a massive traffic jam, with many commuters stranded for hours.
Jagan lashed out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and asked if the construction of Amaravati would ever be finished.
"Naidu went to foreign countries 23 times, and each time he says that Amaravati would be constructed along the lines of that country," Jagan quipped.
“On one side, Naidu says Andhra is ahead of several states in India, but on the other side, he has been saying that AP needs a helping hand. Which one is it?” Jagan asked.
Meanwhile, Naidu said that he will observe a day-long fast on April 20 to protest the Narendra Modi-led Central government's refusal to grant special category status (SCS) to the state.
The TDP President will be staging the protest on his 68th birthday to pressurise the Central government to fulfill all commitments made at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Responding to the fast, Jagan dubbed it a 'drama' and said that it would not bring about any real change.
Senior leaders like Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, Botsa Satyanarayana, K P Saradhi and Vangaveeti Radhakrishna were present. Former MLA Yalamanchili Ravi, who was in the TDP, officially defected to the YSRCP, as he met Jagan and was presented with the party scarf.
Jagan virtually kicked off his campaign for the 2019 assembly elections late last year, when he launched his padayatra.
He plans to cover 3,000 km across all 13 districts of the state to interact with people and know their problems.
The Leader of Opposition began the foot march after paying tributes at the grave of his father and late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district.
Jagan hopes to recreate the magic of his late father YSR, who had launched a similar 'padyatra' to end nearly a decade-long rule of Chandrababu Naidu in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004.
IANS inputs