CM Naidu ‘behaving like a dictator’, says Jagan Mohan Reddy after demolition of YSRCP office

VIDEO | Andhra Pradesh: Authorities demolish the under-construction office building of YSRCP in Vijayawada.

(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvqRQz) pic.twitter.com/UERbCv04IC

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“Chandrababu Naidu, acting like a dictator, used bulldozers to demolish the nearly completed central office in Tadepalli, ignoring High Court orders. Law and justice have completely disappeared in the state,” Jagan said on X soon after the state action.

He also accused Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) swept the state Assembly elections this month, of “inciting violence, spilling blood”, adding that through the act of demolition, “he had sent a violent message about how governance will be in the next five years”.

“Nevertheless, the YSRCP will neither bow down to these threats nor back down from this vendetta. We will fight steadfastly on behalf of the people, for the people, and alongside the people. I urge all democrats in the country to condemn Chandrababu’s misdeeds,” the tweet said.

The former chief minister’s official statement also took a similar tone, accusing the state government of “indulging in vendetta politics”.

In reaction, the TDP accused Jagan and his party of land-grabbing.

“Instead of building a water-treatment plant that was proposed to be built on that land, and usurping nearby lands of poor fishermen, he shamelessly wants to build it. Should we ignore you building palaces after taking away properties of people, land-grabbing and encroachments? Stop giving big dialogues, come to the Assembly and fight instead,” the response said.

The order of the high court came after the party, upon receiving notice from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority, approached it.

On its part, the CRDA, along with the Mangalagiri-Tadepalli Municipal Corporation (MTMC), accuses YSRCP of having “usurped” land that belongs to the state’s irrigation department — an allegation that the party denies.

The behaviour of CRDA and MTMC officials was high handed. They didn’t even heed court orders,” Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, YSRCP leader and advisor to Jagan when he was chief minister, told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, many in political circles say the action is reminiscent of the Jagan government’s 2019 demolition of Naidu’s pet project, Praja Vedika. The grievance hall, constructed next to his residence ‘Undavalli’ on the banks of the river Krishna during Naidu’s previous term between 2014 and 2019, was demolished by the Jagan government citing several illegalities and environmental violations.

In a letter he wrote to the Jagan government on June 5, 2019, Naidu had urged him not to tear down the structure and allow him to use it to meet the masses.

Although the plea went unheeded and the structure eventually demolished, several politicians, including Naidu’s now ally and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, had called the action “highhanded”.

Action against more YSRCP offices may be in the offing as officials today said that the party took up building city and district level offices without bothering to wait for permissions and approvals, confident of a victory in the recently concluded elections. The Town Planning office of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has today issued a notice to the YSRCP office building under construction at Yendada. The notice states that the building permit is still under scrutiny but the party had already started building, and sought clarification on whether Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority has given permission to build or not. The notice states that if no explanation or clarification is given within seven days, further action would be initiated.