Vijayawada Utsav a cover for TDP’s loot, alleges YSRCP leader

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) NTR district president Devineni Avinash on Friday launched a scathing attack on the State government. 

Addressing the media at the YSRCP Central office, Mr. Avinash condemned the TDP’s claims that Dasara festivities began only after the party came to power. “It is an insult to the centuries-old devotion to Goddess Kanaka Durga. To claim that pilgrims came only because of free bus travel is laughable. Devotees have always come in lakhs from across the country and abroad,” he said.

“The Vijayawada Utsav served only to fill TDP leaders’ pockets, and the YSRCP takes this as a betrayal to the people,” he said.

“In the name of Vijayawada Utsav, TDP leaders and the local MP had collected somewhere between ₹70 crore and ₹100 crore from businesses, hotels, hospitals, and real estate firms, even threatening them with GST raids if they refused to pay,” he charged.

Mr. Avinash claimed that there was an attempt to encroach upon 40 acres of the endowment land in Machilipatnam, valued at nearly ₹450 crore, which was “thwarted only due to YSRCP’s intervention and a High Court order”.

The YSRCP leader made light of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s claims that people were happy under the NDA’s rule, by describing it as ‘blatant lies’.

“Farmers have been left without Minimum Support Price (MSP). Unemployed youth are yet to receive the promised allowance. Women were denied schemes such as Amma Vodi and Stree Nidhi. Pensions have been restricted. Students are burdened with the cancellation of fee reimbursements. Is this what Mr. Naidu calls the happiness of the people?” Mr. Avinash asked.

He alleged that instead of fulfilling promises such as ‘Super Six, ₹1,500 monthly support for women, unemployment benefits, and clearing pending fee dues, the coalition government had turned governance into event management.