VIJAYAWADA: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has alleged that a false case was foisted against former minister Kollu Ravindra for confronting the ruling party’s “anti-people policies”. Addressing his party leaders through a videoconference on Sunday, Naidu said Ravindra was innocent and his name was deliberately dragged into the case involving two rival families.
“The murder took place due to a struggle between two families for gaining upper hand in Machilipatnam, which is known to everyone. In 2013, Chinta Surendra was murdered and after that, YSRC leader Moka Bhaskar Rao was murdered. The latter was accused (A5) in the murder of Surendra. During the TDP regime, there was no clash between these two families,” he said. Lambasting the ruling party for “foisting a false case” against Ravindra, the TDP chief said that even 13 months after the murder of former minsiter YS Vivekananda Reddy, the culprits were not caught.
“If you are so efficient, first you catch the culprits behind the murder of Vivekananda Reddy,” he said. Bhaskar Rao was murdered on June 29 and it was reported that the accused have surrendered before police the next day. “If that was the case, how can they call Ravindra and speak with him? Are you playing a drama to deliberately involve Ravindra in the case? Without any preliminary investigation, arresting the TDP leader and imprisoning him is nothing but vindictive politics,” he alleged.
The TDP chief accused the ruling YSRC of deliberately targeting BC leaders of the TDP and described it as a conspiracy to undermine the BC leadership in the State. Naidu called upon BC organisations to condemn the YSRC “atrocities”.
Stating that several MoUs were signed to bring in investments to the State during his regime, Naidu said had the 139 organisations, which were allocated lands in Amaravati allowed to come up, lakhs of jobs would have been generated. “But, they killed Amaravati and future opportunities,” he rued. He also accused the YSRC of driving away industries and potential investors. Meanwhile, former MP K Narayana condemned Ravindra’s arrest and called it a ploy of the YSRC to undermine the TDP. However, he said law will take its own course.
Virtual protest
TDP decided to stage a protest on Monday against delay in allocation of house sites to beneficiaries under housing scheme for the poor. On Tuesday, another protest will be staged against the “housing scam”. Both the protests will be virtual agitations