YSR Congress Party spokesman and Anakapalle MLA Gudivada Amarnath on Monday rubbished the letter written by TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu to the families of those who died in the LG Polymers styrene monomer vapour leakage incident on May 7, saying the Opposition leader was now shedding crocodile tears for the victims to gain political mileage.
Speaking to the media, he said Mr. Naidu did not bother to visit Visakhapatnam to call on the relatives of the deceased and the survivors immediately after the incident and was now resorting to cheap tactics by saying that the government cancelled the flight on the day he booked the ticket almost two months after the fatal incident. Finding fault with his offer of ₹50,000 on behalf of his party to each victim’s family, he said during his tenure as Chief Minister for nine years before and five years after bifurcation, Mr. Naidu did not offer ‘decent’ ex gratia to any of the victims of tragedies like Godavari Pushkaram stampede and ONGC gas pipeline leakage. Stating that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had given ₹1 crore to the families of each deceased person of LG Polymers incident,
Mr. Amarnath said in none of the incidents Mr Naidu had paid a single rupee of compensation from the TDP in the past. He said Mr. Naidu had no concern for the victims and was keen on doing cheap politics.
He justified the arrest of Telugu Desam Party leaders K. Atchannaidu and J.C. Prabhakar Reddy on corruption charges. He also found fault with attempts by Mr. Naidu and his son Lokesh for politicising the denial of permission to meet both Mr. Atchannaidu and Mr. Prabhakar Reddy when they were under remand.
He said the government was firm in exposing the corrupt deals resorted to during the TDP regime and punish all the accused as per law.
