Visakhapatnam: Minister for Tourism Muttamsetti Srinivas challenged opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu to respond to TDP members' land grabbing in Visakhapatnam and further asserted that the government is not being vindictive towards the opposition.

Addressing the media here on Sunday, he said that there is no need for the government to be vindictive towards the TDP, but is being responsible for safeguarding the lands and taking action against illegal encroachments. Unlike in TDP rule, where Visakhapatnam was turned into a city of corruption, the government is now making it the safest city. Thousands of crores worth of lands were encroached by TDP leaders with the support of Chandrababu Naidu and the same is the case with Palla Srinivasa Rao, who encroached 49 acres of land which is valued at Rs 791.41 crores in the Benami account of his father. He dared Chandrababu Naidu to answer whether he supports the encroachment of government lands and to reveal what action will be taken on his party leader Palla Srinivasa Rao for involvement in the land grabbing.

The previous government failed to take action on land encroachments in Visakhapatnam and didn’t make the SIT report public. Soon after forming the government, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has constituted SIT to investigate the land scams in Visakhapatnam and will take action based on the report. Nobody has the right to encroach government land and action will be initiated against any unlawful activity committed by any person whether he belongs to the ruling party or the Opposition, and will be sent to jail by pressing criminal charges, said the Minister.

Refuting the allegations made by the opposition leaders that the YSRCP has been involved in encroaching lands in Visakhapatnam, Minister Srinivas said that land grabbing was done by TDP members during Chandrababu Naidu’s rule and challenged to prove if any single yard of land was encroached by him or any YSRCP member in the last two years. He said that the State government was taking back all the lands which were encroached by the TDP leaders and shall distribute them to the poor, as Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy works for the welfare of the public. In the last two years, various development programmes have been undertaken in Visakhapatnam, with an aim to develop the city. He stated that Chandrababu Naidu had spent money from the land sale in Visakhapatnam on the development of Hyderabad city in United Andhra Pradesh.

Further, he said that the Chief Minister has come up with decentralisation with an aim to develop all three regions equally. Chandrababu should answer whether he and his party members are for or against Visakhapatnam to be an Executive Capital. He stated that the government will soon complete the construction of NAD Flyover and Bhogapuram Airport. If BJP leaders are truly concerned about Visakhapatnam, they should bring in a railway zone and start works, he added.