Social media platforms were flooded with a video clip showing posters carrying a picture of YS Bharathi Reddy and the word BharathiPay.
Published Oct 02, 2022 | 2:21 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 02, 2022 | 5:01 PM
Posters of BharathiPay (Video grab)
A social media campaign in Andhra Pradesh, taking inspiration from one by the Karnataka Congress, has landed TDP leaders in trouble, increasing political heat in the state.
Several social media platforms were flooded with a video clip of a few seconds showing posters carrying the picture of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wife YS Bharathi Reddy and with the word “BharathiPay” on them.
They seemed to have been created along the lines of posters that carried Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai’s photo with “PayCM” on them.
While no one knows where such posters were put out, the videos mysteriously disappeared from social media platforms soon after they surfaced.
It is learnt that the cyber crime wing of the state police removed the videos, and CID believed that the TDP’s newest communication wing iTDP was behind the mischievous campaign.
It is said to have booked TDP politburo member and former minister Ch Ayyana Patrudu’s son Chintakayala Vijay, alleging he heads the iTDP.
On Saturday, 1 October, state CID sleuths went to Vijay’s residence in Hyderabad and served a notice to him. Since Vijay was not available at home, CID sleuths handed over the notice to his family members.
“A preliminary inquiry was conducted into the social media posts targeting Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wife YS Bharathi Reddy intentionally on the name of ‘BharathiPay’. In the inquiry, we found that the posts were created by the iTDP and it was run by Chinthakayala Vijay. We registered a case and served notice to Vijay,” said a CID official.
AP CID registered a cse against BharathiPay campaign (Supplied)
TDP leaders alleged that the CID sleuths forcibly entered Vijay’s house, beat up the watchman, and also terrified the politician’s four-year-old daughter. They said the case was nothing but political vendetta.
“It’s nothing but political vendetta. While neglecting administration, Jagan is concentrating only on hounding those critical of the ruling party’s failures. False cases are being registered against those who point out the non-performance of the government and the corrupt practices of the chief minister,” said Ayyana Patrudu.
“Illegal cases are being foisted particularly on Fridays as courts are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The police have no other duty except toeing the line of the chief minister,” he maintained.
“The police personnel have been camping near Vijay’s house in Hyderabad since Friday night. They forcibly entered his house though Vijay was not at home. How can they enter the house when the house owner was not available?” Ayyana Patrudu asked.
Both TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh had lambasted the Jagan government over the actions of the CID sleuths.
మాజీ మంత్రి అయ్యన్న పాత్రుడి తనయుడు, టిడిపి యువనేత చింతకాయల విజయ్ ఇంట్లోకి దోపీడీ దొంగల్లా పోలీసులు చొరబడటాన్ని తీవ్రంగా ఖండిస్తున్నాను. విజయ్ ఇంట్లో చిన్న పిల్లలను, పని వాళ్లను భయభ్రాంతులను చేసేలా సిఐడి పోలీసులు వ్యవహరించిన తీరు దారుణం.(1/4) pic.twitter.com/Un3u6vuaS8
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) October 1, 2022
కోర్టు ఎన్ని సార్లు చివాట్లు పెట్టినా జగన్ సర్కార్ కి బుద్ది రావడం లేదు. పోలీస్ వ్యవస్థ ని రాజకీయ కక్ష సాధింపు సంస్థ గా మార్చుకున్నారు. బిసి నేత @AyyannaPatruduC గారి కుటుంబాన్ని వేధించడమే లక్ష్యంగా ప్రభుత్వ యంత్రాంగాన్ని దుర్వినియోగం చేస్తున్నారు.(1/4) pic.twitter.com/emsvoPf274
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) October 1, 2022
The BharathiPay poster videos, which disappeared from the majority of the social media platforms, carried a message saying “Liquor money accepted here”, with a phone number and a QR code.
The posters are a follow-up of a sustained campaign by the TDP linking YSRCP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijaysai Reddy and Jagan’s wife Bharathi Reddy to the infamous Delhi Liquor Scam.
After a Cabinet meeting a few days ago, Jagan came down heavily against some of his Cabinet colleagues for not effectively countering the TDP’s propaganda against his wife and her being dragged into the Delhi Liquor Scam case.
“We will not spare anyone who targets family members of our chief minister. How can they drag and target women members of the family into such controversies?” said Tourism Minister RK Roja.
A senior TDP leader from north Andhra Pradesh, Ch Ayyana Patrudu has been a bitter critic of the Jagan government, courting controversies for the last three years, ever since the YSRCP came to power.
As many as 12 cases were filed against Ayyana Patrudu in the last two years by the Jagan government.
In June a compound wall of his house in Narsipatnam of Anakapalle district was demolished by the civic authorities. The civic staff using a bulldozer demolished the wall charging that it encroached on an irrigation canal.
While the family members of Ayyana Patrudu alleged that the wall was demolished without giving any prior notice and a NOC was already obtained to construct the wall long ago, the civic staff said a notice had been issued.
Ayyana Patrudu’s wife Ch Padmavathi at that time alleged that power had been snapped in the early hours of the day and that the civic staff started demolishing the wall using bulldozers without any intimation or notice.
Ayyana Patrudu on Saturday recalled that his son Chihtakayala Vijay had already obtained a stay order from the high court in connection with another case filed by the CID, and asked why they were harassing him again.
