Under-construction YSR Congress Party office demolished, Jagan targets Naidu
The YSR Congress Party’s under-construction central office in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh was demolished by the municipal authorities in the early hours of Saturday citing illegal construction, prompting former chief minister and party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to accuse the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of “vendetta politics”.
According to a statement released by the Opposition YSRCP, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) and Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation (MTMC) began demolition of its “almost complete” office at Tadepalli at 5.30am disregarding high court orders.
“The court has ordered that no further action should be taken pending hearing of the petition and the order was conveyed to the APCRDA commissioner by the YSRCP’s lawyer. However, the authorities pro
ceeded with the demolition, potentially amounting to contempt of court,” the party said in a statement.
The development comes weeks after the MTMC issued a notice to the opposition party over the alleged illegal construction at Tadepalli, following which YSRCP’s Guntur district president M Seshagiri Rao approached the high court on June 21. The court then asked the
authorities to halt any demolition activity until the hearing is completed.
Reacting to the development, former CM Reddy called for statewide protests.
“There is no law and justice in the state. TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been resorting to vendetta politics and behaving like a dictator. He ordered demolition of a near-completed building of the YSRCP central office with bulldozers, against the high court orders,” he alleged.
Hitting out at Naidu, Reddy said: “YSRCP will not bow down to these threats or acts of vendetta, nor will it show any cowardice. We will fight firmly on behalf of the people, for the people, and with the people.”
YSRCP spokesperson and former minister Ambati Rambabu described Naidu as a destructive person. “For him, it appears demolition of YSRCP office is more important than implementation of his Super Six promises,” he said.
The TDP hit back at the Opposition saying that the former CM got the irrigation department’s land in survey number 202/A1 in Tadepalli allotted to the party office by misusing his power. “In fact, Jagan had prepared a plan to occupy the neighbouring 15 acres by building the party office in these two acres. It is now clarified that the Irrigation Department has not given the clearance to hand over these two acres to the YSRCP,” the statement said..