It was a direct counter to Jagan’s assertion ‘Why not 175’, a slogan coined to motivate YSRCP cadres to work hard and win all Assembly seats in the state.
TDP Supremo N Chandrababu Naidu addressing a meeting at Pulivendula on Wednesday, 2 August. (Supplied)
TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is on a roll. He has taken on YSRCP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at Pulivendula, the latter’s home turf in YSR Kadapa district.
“Why not Pulivendula,” Naidu asked while addressing a meeting, on Wednesday, 2 August.
The question was a parody and direct acceptance of a challenge Jagan had thrown at the TDP and other Opposition parties, indicating his plan to win all the 175 seats in upcoming elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
“Why not 175,” Jagan had coined the slogan while asking his party leaders and workers to prepare for the electoral battle. He wanted the YSRCP to take over even Kuppam, Naidu’s pocket borough.
“Politics is changing in Andhra Pradesh. Opposition to the government has taken the form of a protest. Now, this protest will turn into a movement that will eventually dump the YSRCP. My meeting yesterday in Pulivendula stands testimony to it,” Naidu posted on social media on Thursday.
Naidu had raised the same question, “Why not Pulivendula”, on earlier occasions as well. During a TDP zone -1 meeting in Visakhapatnam in April, he took a jibe at Jagan’s ambitious plan to win all 175 Assembly seats and raised the Pulivendula question.
However, going by the 2019 election statistics, it won’t be a walk in the park for the TDP to pose even a rudimentary challenge to Jagan in Pulivendula. The YSRCP leader had won the 2019 election, trouncing the TDP by a margin of more than 90,000 votes. The NOTA — None Of The Above — option came third with 2,160 votes.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu raised the ‘Jai Amaravati’ slogan at Pulivendula, demanding a single capital for Andhra Pradesh. (Supplied)
On Wednesday, however, Naidu was upbeat. Addressing a huge gathering at the Poola Angadi centre, in Pulivendula town, the former chief minister said the revolt against the YSRCP government has begun in Pulivendula and it was evident from the huge turnout for his roadshow.
As part of his 20-day campaign to visit irrigation project sites in Rayalaseema, Naidu on Wednesday visited Gandikota reservoir in the morning and reached Pulivendula in the evening.
During the roadshow, he lambasted Jagan for his failure to ensure a capital for Andhra Pradesh. He raised slogans of “Jai Amaravati”, which the crowd repeated. Naidu asserted that the response to his Jai Amaravati slogan showed that the people of Pulivendula favoured Amaravati as the single capital of the state.
Jagan has been pushing a three-capital model, Kurnool as the judicial capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital and Visakhapatnam as the executive capital.
“I have been into politics for the past 40 years and I am not scared of anyone. Rowdyism is not politics. Winning the confidence of the people is politics and I will take these people (of the ruling party) to task,” Naidu thundered at the meeting.
“They are saying that I am old. I am a lion and will continue to live like a lion. Jagan’s cousin Suneetha Reddy has been fighting for justice like a tiger cub,” he said.
Dr Narareddy Suneetha Reddy has been engaged in a legal battle to get justice for her father YS Vivekananda Reddy, who was found murdered at his residence just ahead of the 2019 polls.
Jagan’s family members have been winning Pulivendula since 1978. Jagan first won the seat in 2014. Ever since becoming the chief minister, he has been eyeing Naidu’s Assembly segment, Kuppam. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh lost Mangalagiri in 2019.
Interestingly, the TDP MLC Bhumireddy Ramagopal Reddy, who won the West Rayalaseema segment in the “polls held for graduates” segment in the Legislative Council, also hails from Pulivendula.
At the roadshow in Pulivedula, Naidu announced the party’s candidate in the segment in 2024. Mareddy Ravindranath Reddy aka B.Tech Ravi would be taking on Jagan, he said.
Naidu also visited the residences of Ravi and Ramagopal Reddy and also inaugurated a new TDP office in Pulivendula.
Hours before Naidu reached Pulivendula, mild tension prevailed as TDP and YSRCP workers clashed. YSRCP workers had reached the road show location while the TDP workers were making arrangements. Workers of both parties entered into a verbal duel, which escalated and required police intervention.
The huge turnout for his roadshow at Pulivendula impressed Naidu. (Supplied)
Naidu promised that every acre would be irrigated once his party returned to power. Naidu visited the Gandikota project works before reaching Pulivendula as part of his programme, Yudha Bheri.
He said that the state would progress only if all projects, including Polavaram, were implemented. He questioned the state government for replacing the project-implementing agencies, ignoring the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) warning. “Are we responsible if agencies are changed despite strict instructions not to do so,” he asked.
The former chief minister urged the people to realise who has done good to the state and who has destroyed it. Naidu said that the people might revolt against the government over the poor condition of the Gandikota reservoir.
The TDP, during its regime, organised the Gandikota festival and a plan was formulated to upgrade it as a tourist centre, he said.
“I made every effort to scale up the Lord Sri Rama temple at Ontimitta to the level of Bhadrachalam. Since we thought of the future generations we worked with some foresight,” the TDP supremo recalled.
“When I talk about the poor condition of the irrigation projects, the inefficient minister for water resources talks about Bro, the movie. Can they be called as ministers,” Naidu asked.
