AMARAVATI: Minister for I&PR and Transport Perni Venkataramaiah alias Nani said the media reports went on record claiming that in response to a public interest litigation, the High Court chief justice had asked the government to make clear how far it is justified to utilize public funds for a political agitation.

Speaking to the media at the Secretariat on Friday, Nani said N Chandrababu Naidu, when he was the Chief Minister, went to Delhi and took up an agitation on 11-2-2019 in the name of Dharma Porata Deeksha against the Central government for which GO No. RT No.15 was issued sanctioning Rs 10 crore for the agitation and out of it, Rs 1.25 crore was sanctioned for train fare to take people to Delhi. This was after Naidu was in alliance with the BJP for four years. Similarly, such agitations were conducted in all the districts by wasting public money.

Mr Nani said the same Chandrababu Naidu was now shamelessly praising Home Minister Amit Shah and wishing him on his birthday. After having criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now Naidu has gone to Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam and shamelessly claiming that it was a mistake to criticize Modi. He has been always committing mistakes and later tendering an apology.

The minister said Naidu was playing dirty politics by making his MPs join the BJP. Naidu was claiming that he has created a golden capital and a High Court for the state. Mr Nani asked what happened to the high court where even tea was not available to the lawyers. Naidu had filed an affidavit on December 15, 2018 that the High Court premises would be ready and it can be shifted to the new capital. Hence the High Court was shifted to the new capital. But where are the facilities? asked Mr Nani.

The minister alleged that property worth lakhs of crores of rupees belonging to the Dalits was taken away in the name of capital construction by Naidu. It was a big scam in the name of insider trading.

Another issue the minister pointed out was that of Pawanism. He said Pawanism was only to criticize Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. He said it was ridiculous on the part of Pawan Kalyan to claim that Jagan Mohan Reddy cannot fight for the sake of the state in Delhi as he has several cases booked against him. He said everybody knows that the cases are politically motivated.

Mr Nani criticized Pawan Kalyan for describing the attempt to murder case on Jagan Mohan Reddy as a chicken knife case. He said it was like his master’s voice where Pawan was uttering the words of his master Chandrababu Naidu. He said Pawan should change and tenor.

While referring to MP Sujana Chowdhary’s statement that Jagan Mohan Reddy just and came went from Delhi, Mr Nani asked why Chowdhary was not able to speak in praise of the BJP which he has joined recently. He said Chowdhary had joined the BJP as a cowart of Chandrababu Naidu.