Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy has said the State Election Commissioner (SEC) should not have put the local body elections on hold and, instead hastened the process so as to save it from the impact of COVID-19.
Addressing the media at his residence here on Wednesday, he said the State government was equally concerned over the spread of the dreaded virus and would be too keen on initiating measures to contain it.
“We want the elections to be conducted on time so as to have elected bodies in place to guide the official machinery in the nook and corner of the State”, he said. The Minister expressed scepticism that the indiscriminate spread of the virus might become too unwieldy for the government to handle in the next few weeks, and as such, holding the election at that time would be an ill-advised move.
Mr. Reddy not only accused State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh of bias, but also the district election observer Siddharth Jain of being partisan towards the Telugu Desam Party, recalling incidents from the past.
Charge against Naidu
Reacting seriously to the SEC’s report, Mr. Reddy called it a cleverly-executed ploy by TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, with support from what he mocked at as the party’s ‘puppet media’.
“Whenever he wants to paint somebody black or project something bad, Mr. Naidu is known to build a case through the newspapers and channels that have become his party organs. He will then submit a report to the SEC based on these skewed ‘media reports’. It is unfortunate that the SEC has also acted upon such baseless reports”, Mr. Reddy said.
