City Council Minister Botcha Satyanarayana has claimed that former Prime Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu is indulging in gimmicks to gain sympathy for the people before the Tirupati Lok Sabha Bypoll.
At a media conference here on Tuesday, Mr Satyanarayana said that Mr Naidu had announced the boycott of the MPTC and ZPTC polls as he was convinced that the party would be defeated. Now, for fear of the party’s debacle in Tirupati-Bypoll, he played the drama of “falling rocks” at his rally. His goal was to show the ruling party in a bad light, Satyanarayana said.
The public display of the stone allegedly thrown at his rally showed his eagerness to earn public sympathy. Police investigation and questioning of 20 people after the incident and video surveillance of the area revealed no suspicion or the presence of stones in the area. Only a few people are said to have suffered minor injuries in the attack and it was blown up disproportionately, the minister said.
The minister said it was common to win and lose in elections and advised Mr. Naidu to check the party’s defeat in the municipal authorities’ polls and take remedial action instead of reaching out to the ruling party for cheap publicity.
“Sack of Sand”
Regarding BJP President JP Nadda’s allegations that sand was being looted in the state, he said that during the Telugu Desam Party’s rule in the state, when the BJP was allied with it, sand was looted for defeat the BJP was responsible in the state.
The YSRCP government’s welfare programs would ensure the party’s success in by-poll, Satyanarayana said.