Gali Nagaraja
Amaravati: A cat and mouse game is played out in Andhra Pradesh. The ruling YSR Congress or Yuvajana Sramika Rytu Congress (YSRC), headed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, is out for its rivals’ blood. And, the police machinery appears to be a pawn in the game.
Jagan Reddy, who suspects the hand of his TDP’s bête noir N. Chandrababu Naidu behind his incarceration in a case of disproportionate assets during the UPA-II, is seen at his best to pay him back in the same coin.
Subsequently, the Reddy government zeroed in on TDP’s vocal leader K. Atchannaidu from the Backward Classes, who was allegedly caught off-guard in an Employees State Insurance (ESI) scam that occurred when he was the Minister for Labour in the previous Chandrababu government. Atchannaidu is charged with committing irregularities in procurement of drugs and equipment by the Vigilance and Enforcement Department probing the case. A posse of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths launched a crackdown on Atchan’s house at Nimmada village in Uttarandhra’s Srikakulam district, hauled him into a waiting vehicle and took him to Guntur. The TDP leader reportedly undergone a surgery for haemorrhoids the previous day and he was forced by the police to travel in a car for 500km. Atchennaidu is a younger brother of Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu, TDP’s former union minister who had impleaded in the Jagan’s assets case.
Storm in Gajapathiraju’s family
Another TDP’s former union minister P. Ashok Gajapathiraju, who is another impleader in the Jagan’s case, became the victim of a coup within his family at the instance of Jaganmohan Reddy that finally saw his unceremonious exit from the Varaha Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam (Simhachalam) Trust Board. Ashok was heading the trust board as Chairman since the death of his brother Ananda Gajapathiraju. As a result of the coup, Sanchaita Gajapatiraju, daughter of Uma Gajapathi Raju, estranged wife of Ashok’s elder brother, Ananda Gajapathi Raju’ became the chairperson.
Sanchaita, who was actively associated with the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, was drawn into the Jagan’s party to engineer the coup.
It may be the next turn in waiting for TDP’s another crucial leader Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu in Uttarandhra region’s Visakhaptnam district. Faced with the charges of outraging the modesty of the woman municipal commissioner in his native Narsipatnam under the Nirbhaya Act, Ayyanna gets relief for the time being from the prospects of his arrest by securing an anticipatory bail. He was allegedly engaged in a wordy duel with the Commissioner K. Krishnaveni after she removed the portrait of his father Latcha Patrudu, a veteran BC leader, former MLA and MLC from the council hall.
In Rayalaseema, the TDP’s key leader and former MP JC Diwakar Reddy is facing the ire of the YSRC government. His brother Prabhakar Reddy and nephew Asmith Reddy, charged with buying scrap vehicles, registering them illegally, plying and selling them in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, were arrested a day after the crackdown on Atchannaidu. Diwakar Reddy, who defected to the TDP from the Congress, has been credited with challenging the leadership of Jagan’s father Rajasekhar Reddy from within the Grand Old party. Diwakar later became the backbone for the Naidu’s party in Rayalaseema’s Ananthapur district.
Police go after TDP’s ex-Home Minister
Who are the leaders in the Jagan’s next line of fire? Former Home Minister N. Chinarajappa and Leader of Opposition in the AP Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnundu are framed in a case of abetting bigamy. The TDP former MLA Pilli Anantalakshmi was accused of performing a second marriage for her son while the first wife was alive, thus committing bigamy. The two senior TDP leaders attended the marriage ceremony.
Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Women Chairperson Vasireddy Padma directed the police to arrest Ayyanna, Yanamala and Rajappa so as to ensure justice to the aggrieved persons.
Jagan unveiled a road map to deliver corruption-free governance while taking oath as Chief Minister on May 30 last year.
Analyst K. Nageswar said it is a hunt launched by the Jagan government in the name of crusading corruption by selectively targeting the TDP.