Windows, Doors Worth Rs. 73 Lakh: Jagan Reddy's Home Plan Draws Flak

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's home in Guntur district is expected to get windows and doors worth Rs. 73 lakh. The installation of the expensive, high-security additions were cleared by his government in an order last month.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Mr Reddy's bitter rival N Chandrababu Naidu has raised questions over the amount of money spent on the Chief Minister's home and office block.

"YSR Jagan's government has allotted a whopping Rs, 73 lakhs to fix windows for his house! Now that's one super expensive view at the expense of state exchequer! This comes at a time when AP is grappling with fiscal mess caused by mismanagement in the last 5 months. Truly cringe-worthy!" Mr Naidu tweeted on Wednesday.

In a tweet, TDP leader and Mr Naidu's son, Nara Lokesh, accused the Chief Minister of hypocrisy as "he says he takes home Rs.1 as salary".

Soon after Jagan Reddy won the state election in May and came to power, a road was built at his home in Guntur's Tadepalli village for Rs. 5 crore following another state government order. The bill for electrical works at the palatial home came to Rs 3.6 crore.

A helipad too was built in the premises. The construction of the helipad and other security arrangements cost Rs 1.89 crore.

An additional Rs. 3.25 crore was spent to acquire extra land for the construction of view cutters at Mr Reddy's home.

The construction of a "Praja Darbar" near the Chief Minister's house - a place for the public to meet him - was cleared for Rs. 82 lakh. In June this year, a Rs. 8-crore conference hall built by Chandrababu Naidu was razed after Mr Reddy government ordered the demolition of the building, calling it "illegal".

When Mr Naidu was in power, he spent Rs. 10 crore for a one-day protest against the centre in Delhi in February. The protests were held over demands for a special category Status for the state and against the centre's alleged failure to fulfill other commitments made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Mr Naidu had reportedly spent Rs. 80 crore on sprucing up and maintaining several camp offices in Hyderabad and Vijayawada.

K Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of neighboring Telangana built palatial residence-cum-office in 2016 at a cost of Rs. 38 crore.

The huge expenses come at a time when the Andhra Pradesh government's coffers are in dire straits.

Jagan Reddy, 46, was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on May, 30. He came to power after a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh elections in May in which Mr Naidu was voted out of power.

In the past few months, he has faced criticism over the renaming of the previous government's schemes after his father YS Rajashekhara Reddy and for painting a village secretariat building in the colours of his party YSR Congress.