Botsa slams Naidu, SEC for expediting election process in Andhra Pradesh

NELLORE: Municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Saturday came down heavily against Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu for hobnobbing with State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and weakening the state’s democratic process.
He was in Nellore to take part in various developmental programmes along with Water Resources Minister Dr P. Anilkumar Yadav.

Speaking to media persons, he slammed Naidu for not holding elections although the tenure of the local bodies had ended in 2018 when he was the chief minister.

Satyanarayana rebuked the SEC for preparing to hold the elections when the state government was struggling to contain Covid and was busy with the vaccination programme.

“Nimmagadda has been addressing officials like a political leader forgetting that he is a Commissioner”, he said adding that he had never seen such a situation in his 30-year political career.

He expressed his displeasure over the SEC’s stance against senior IAS officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi while reminding that he had earlier served as the Election Commissioner with utmost sincerity.

Stressing that the SEC has been acting in an inappropriate way and in a biased manner, he said the SEC was utilising the constitutional body for his personal reasons.

The minister said that the SEC had postponed elections when the government was ready and there were only 50 odd Covid cases then.
“He is going ahead with the election process when the situation is critical in the state” the Municipal minister alleged while maintaining that nothing will happen if elections are postponed by two to three months.

Pointing out to some officers being relieved, he said the SEC had done so before releasing the election notification.

Satyanarayana charged that the opposition was behind attacks on temples and theft of idols as they were frustrated at the rising popularity of the ruling party. He said CCTV footage on the Tekkali incident is a clear example of TDP role in the incidents.

Meanwhile, the municipal development minister laid the foundation stone for the Gosha hospital in the town along with Dr. P Anil Kumar.

After a review of the activities of Nellore Municipal Corporation, the Minister inspected the housing colony built by TIDCO during the TD regime. Nellore rural legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy was also present.