RLI mortgaged for personal deals

Tadepalli, Jan 17: YSRCP official spokesperson and former MP Gorantla Madhav demanded that Chandrababu Naidu publicly disclose what he received from Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in return for shelving the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme. Speaking to the media at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, he said Chandrababu has made a habit of mortgaging the state’s interests for personal benefit and reminded that even the Prime Minister had once remarked that Polavaram had been turned into an “ATM.” He said Chandrababu, who was caught in the vote-for-note case, abandoned Hyderabad despite it being the joint capital for ten years and fled to Vijayawada, and is now colluding with Revanth Reddy to stop the Rayalaseema Lift in order to escape the legal consequences of that case.

Gorantla Madhav said Revanth Reddy’s statement on the floor of the Telangana Assembly that he personally convinced Chandrababu Naidu in a closed-door meeting to halt the Rayalaseema Lift, and his subsequent readiness to subject that claim to verification, raises serious suspicions. He demanded that Chandrababu reveal to the people of Andhra Pradesh the nature of this secret understanding that compromises the state’s interests.  Chandrababu was unable to tolerate the political goodwill YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would earn through the project and therefore did not hesitate to stake even Rayalaseema’s future to block it.

He further stated that he was being falsely booked and warrants were issued against him merely for questioning the government over injustices against women and children. He said it was shocking that even after a year and a half the coalition government had failed to recover the body of a murdered child or punish the culprits, yet was quick to file cases against YSRCP leaders to silence those raising their voices. He urged the police to act impartially and not as instruments of political vendetta, and warned that attempts to suppress questions on governance failures would not deter the opposition from standing with the people.