Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council and TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Cabinet colleagues hardly respect the Constitution and its preamble.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said people were deprived of their fundamental rights and false cases were being filed against political opponents. Even the media was not allowed to function freely, he added.
‘Assault on institutions’
He said the Chief Minister has no moral right to talk about ‘grama swaraj' and local self-government considering his party cadres appointed as volunteers running a ‘parallel government’ in rural areas.
Accusing the YSRCP of making the local body polls one-sided, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said Mr. Jagan’s rule so far was marked by ‘non-stop attacks’ on democratic systems and constitutional institutions. Over ₹8,000 crore released by the Centre for COVID relief was also diverted by the government, he added.
He said the TDP government had spent ₹26,411 crore for rural development during 2018-19. In sharp contrast, the YSRCP government allocated just ₹10,480 crore in the revised estimates for 2019-2020, while the actual spending was much less. In just one year, the government reduced expenditure on rural development by ₹16,000 crore.
Even in the 2020-21 budget, just ₹15,112 crore was allocated.
This was ₹ 10,000 crore less than what the TDP had spent during 2018-19. Mr. Jagan totally ignored the development of villages and aspirations of rural people, he added.
