Anantapur MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy said Telugu Desam Party(TDP) president Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who he said was limited to Zoom meetings, was not updated with the ground realities about the COVID situation in the State.
In retort to the TDP’s criticism of the handling of the crisis, Mr. Venkarami Reddy said: “I went round the hospitals, ICU wards and COVID Care Centres to know the ground reality and wherever lacuna was identified, I ensured it was then and there taken care of. Mr. Naidu, however, chose to remain in Hyderabad ever since the pandemic hit the country.”
Mr. Venkatarami Reddy, along with Mayor Wasim Saleem, laid the foundation for an Urban Health Centre in the city on Wednesday. The MLA added that despite the prevailing financial crisis due to the pandemic, the YSRCP government had not let down the people of Andhra Pradesh and had been honouring all its commitments.
TDP leaders stage protest
Meanwhile, TDP leaders, led by former Anantapur MLA Vaikuntham Prabhakar Chowdary, held a dharna in front of the Mandal Revenue Officer in the city on Wednesday and demanded that the government give the right figures for COVID fatalities and immediately sanction ₹25 lakh ex gratia to the kin of all those who had succumbed to the virus.
The party leaders criticised the State government for its “inept” handling of the supply of oxygen in the hospitals, which led to the death of 33 persons in Tirupati, 14 in Anantapur, 6 in Hindupur and several others in Kurnool, Vizianagaram.
