Naidu hijacking YS Jagan’s achievements

Tadepalli, July 10: YSRCP spokesperson Putta Shivashankar Reddy has strongly condemned Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Minister Nara Lokesh for brazenly appropriating the developmental achievements of former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The current administration lacks originality and resorts to “event-driven governance” that prioritizes publicity stunts over substantive progress for the people of Andhra Pradesh.

He highlighted that transformative initiatives like the Nadu-Nedu program, which revolutionized government schools by providing clean drinking water, modern toilets, benches, and green boards, were spearheaded by YS Jagan. Yet, Naidu and Lokesh have shamelessly claimed credit for these upgrades, even resorting to pasting stickers to erase YS Jagan’s name from these projects. “History cannot be erased by covering it with stickers,” Siva asserted, emphasizing that the NDA’s attempts to rewrite the narrative will not diminish Jagan’s contributions.

The government is turning governance into a series of media spectacles, with weekly events designed to chase Guinness World Records rather than address pressing public needs. He pointed to the misrepresentation of initiatives like parent-teacher meetings and the Amma Vodi program, which significantly reduced school dropouts under YS Jagan’s leadership, as Lokesh's innovations. Even automated SMS alerts to parents about student absences, introduced by Jagan, have been falsely attributed to Naidu. “This is not people-centric governance; it is event-centric politics,” he charged. Naidu and Lokesh are engaging in a “mutual back-patting exercise” to mislead the public.

Naidu's handling of cultural and educational programs, such as yoga events, which were reduced to mere photo opportunities. Sivashankar stressed that Jagan’s policies were rooted in uplifting the marginalized and ensuring equitable development, while the current government’s focus remains on self-promotion. “The people of Andhra Pradesh deserve governance that builds on Jagan’s legacy of progress, not one that steals credit for it,” he added.