Lokesh begins 'opinion poll' on CM Delhi tour

Will Jagan bring Special Status? asks TDP MLC

Asks if CM visit is meant to seek bailout from cases

AMARAVATI (prajaamaravati): TDP National General Secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh on Thursday launched an opinion poll on twitter seeking response from the Andhra Pradesh people on the hidden purpose of Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy in his current visit to the national capital of Delhi.

Mr. Lokesh gave four multiple choices to the people to give their answers. The first choice was whether the people think that the Chief Minister would bring the long-denied Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh. It was known how the opposition TDP has been targetting Mr. Jagan Reddy on the Special Status issue since he came to power in 2019.

In his opinion poll, Mr. Nara Lokesh gave the fourth choice to the people to say whether the CM was visiting the National Capital to get relief from his CBI and ED cases. The other two choices were whether Mr. Jagan Reddy would bring Railway Zone or Polavaram funds from the Centre. There were many expectations from the CM's current 2-day visit to Delhi.

Mr. Lokesh sarcastically asked what 'the bulletless Ja'gun' would fetch from Delhi' to fulfill the long-awaited promises made to AP. Since 2014, the three promises of Special Status, Railway Zone and Polavaram funds have been sour grapes for the AP people. The Central Government made huge promises on these aspects at the time of bifurcation only to persuade the people of the residual Andhra Pradesh. These promises became necessary considering the fact that the AP people lost the high revenue earning Capital City of Hyderabad to Telangana.

Decrying the YCP Government's 'lack of commitment', Mr. Nara Lokesh specifically targetted the Chief Minister on the issue of Special Status. At the time of the 2019 election, Mr. Jagan Reddy made an appeal to the voters that if they gave him 25 MPs, he would bend the necks of the Central leaders and make them give Special Status to AP. The people gave him 22 MPs and another 6 Rajya Sabha MPs later. Now, the CM got 28 MPs in the Parliament and yet he was not sincerely pressurising the Centre for the Special Status.

Mr. Lokesh has long been taking objection to the 'indifference' of CM Jaganmohan Reddy to the immediate necessity of completing the Polavaram lifeline irrigation project. With his arbitrary reverse tendering, the CM has caused inordinate delay in the project works. As a result, only 2 percent works were completed in Polavaram in the past 2 years of YCP rule. The CM owed an explanation why he was not bringing pressure on the Centre for Polavaram funds. The Railway Zone was another promise that the YCP regime had suppressed totally for its narrow political interests.

Mr. Lokesh posed a tricky question whether the AP CM was visiting Delhi only to seek the blessings of the Central leaders to escape from his illegal assets cases. Chargesheets have been filed in over 11 cases of CBI and ED against the AP Chief Minister. These cases have long been heard in the concerned CBI court. Mr. Jagan Reddy was currently on bail even as his own party MP Raghurama Raju has filed a petition in the CBI court seeking the cancellation of the CM's bail.