Naidu attacks AP govt over non-payment of salaries, lack of development

Tirupati: Telugu Desam president Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday launched a scathing attack on the YSRC government over the alleged non-payment of salaries to government employees and “lack of development” across the state.

Addressing a public meeting in Venkatagiri as part of the TD's 'Raa Kadali Raa' campaign, Naidu said employees were now only asking for timely payment of monthly salaries and not demanding a salary hike. "They feel insecure that if they demand a hike in salaries, they may even be sent to jail," Naidu stated sarcastically.

Sounding the poll bugle for the 2024 Assembly polls, the TD chief said, “The political winds in Andhra Pradesh are changing rapidly and the countdown has started for the “destructive” YSRC rule.

"Jagan Mohan Reddy's credibility is in tatters. The end is near for a leader who has driven Andhra's progress in reverse gear."

Slamming the government's performance on poverty alleviation and employment generation, Naidu said no section of the society was happy under the Jagan Mohan Reddy rule. "The poor have become poorer," he alleged.

The former CM vowed to eliminate poverty if his party returned to power.

Naidu accused the YSRC government of stalling progress across Andhra Pradesh, including in the temple city of Tirupati. Except for a change in jurisdiction, Venkatagiri has seen no development in the last five years. "While we transformed Tirupati into a bustling city, Jagan Mohan Reddy has turned it into a hub of ganja and bogus voting," he alleged.

“There was the closure of several industries in Sri City, which earlier provided jobs to thousands of youths, due to the wrong policies of the YSRC government,” he said.

Highlighting the woes of sarpanches and contractors under the YSRC rule, Naidu said over 43 contractors have committed suicide as their payments remained pending for long.

Naidu warned that “bureaucrats involved in enrolling bogus votes” would face its consequences. “Over 1.15 lakh fake votes have been enrolled in the Chandragiri Assembly segment.”

The TD president said local officials were approaching senior party leader Panabaka Lakshmi, requesting her to withdraw a court case she filed against bogus voting in Tirupati. "No way. The TD will ensure the guilty are produced before the court," he asserted.