Why Are You Scared Of An Impartial Probe, Chandrababu?  

Parvathipuram, Vizianagaram district: Girl students of DIET College met me this morning and complained that they were already a year behind in their academic schedule. While the exams for the first year were not held at the end of the second year, they were holding exams of both years around the same time. How can we prepare for exams on such a scale?, they asked. “What can we write? We are losing precious study time of our academic schedule and also losing out on employment opportunities," they said. They expressed their deep anguish at the indifferent attitude of the Chandrababu Naidu government.

People living in Jagannathapuram told me that drinking water was a serious problem in Parvathipuram town. It was supplied once in three days and even this was uncertain, they said.

I was pained to learn that the ruling party leaders resorted to excesses on people who demanded regular supply of drinking water! The locals told me that in the name of beautification of the place, and in the guise of putting dividers on roads, crores of rupees of taxpayer’s money was siphoned off by the ruling party leaders. Their corrupt ways went unchecked, the people pointed out. If one leader occupied a large tract of land right over Varahalagadda which flows through the city, another changed its course altogether to grab a large piece of land. The result is that while the greed of the TDP men have no limits, people go thirsty without proper drinking water supply.

Residents of Vivekananda Colony met me and told me that Gopasagaram Lake which used to provide drinking water, had been turned into a dumping yard. They were deeply distressed by the fact that due to the pollution which resulted from this, foul smell made life difficult for them. The ruling party leaders are unconcerned about the fate of thousands of people and were equally apathetic to the conditions of the nearby orphanage. If only they demonstrated a fraction of the concern they did on grabbing river beds, on the needs of people!

Agrigold victims met me in Narsapuram and poured out their woes to me. They expressed their anguish that their hard-earned money and savings were likely to end up in the pockets of TDP bigwigs. In a village of 160 homes, there were 280 Agrigold policies, they said. That itself shows to what extent these villagers had been duped. It was even more painful to learn that six people had died of shock in this village after being cheated by Agrigold.

The investigating agencies of the state government which are in the vice-like grip of Chandrababu Naidu did not attempt to arrest a key individual in the scam—the MD of Haailand so far! It was even more shocking to see Agrigold claim that it had no connection with Haailand and that it is not owned by Agrigold! This only goes to prove to what extent the CID wing of AP police worships Chandrababu Naidu. The underlying plot behind looting the assets of this company are clearly surfacing now. Agrigold victims sobbed saying, “How can such investigating agencies do justice to us?“

It cost me deep distress to see how this scandal is playing out at the cost of people’s lives, while the TDP government remained totally unconcerned. There was a common pattern to the criminality underscoring Chandrababu Naidu's rule of the jungle—right from Agrigold to Polavaram, votes for crores and to the murder attempt on me at Visakhapatnam—plots, conspiracies, scams and scandals. Chandrababu‘s misrule and mockery of the Constitution, includes horse-trading of MLAs, whom he bought over like cattle. Instead of applying the anti-defection law to them, he made four of them ministers in the cabinet. All these are examples of the depths to which Chandrababu Naidu can stoop in public life.

I have a question for the chief minister—why is it that for any accusations made against you, you are scared of an impartial probe by an independent agency? Is it not a fact that in your 40 years of political experience you have been getting Court stay after Court stay against any likely probe into allegations against you? This, in addition to banning investigating agencies proves your guilt clearly, does it not?