FILE photo: YSR Congress Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy
Flaying the "pomp and show" associated with the "coronation" of N Chandrababu Naidu, YSR Congress (YSRC) Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday said he does not want to be part of the "extravagant" swearing-in ceremony when Andhra Pradesh is in deep crisis.
"On one hand Naidu has been seeking donations from the people to build the capital city and on the other an estimated Rs 30 crores is being lavishly spent on the swearing-in ceremony which at this point of time is not wise and I leave it to their wisdom but I personally will not ratify such a wasteful expenditure," he told reporters in Rajahmundry after the review meeting of five north coastal Andhra districts.
A section of media, Mr Reddy alleged, has been trying to project that Mr Naidu has limited resources and empty coffers suggesting that the loan waiver may be difficult but people have given YSRCP a mandate to question the Telugu Desam Party or TDP governance and the steps being taken to fulfill waiver of agriculture loans.
On the review meetings, he said this is an exercise carried out to analyse in detail the shortcomings in some of the constituencies the party lost which would enable it to take corrective measures in the coming days.
"It is not that we were in power and lost now and are searching for reasons. We started off with one MP and one MLA, went up to two MPs and 20 MLAs and we now have eight MPs and 67 MLAs in Seemandhra and nine MPs and 70 MLAs as a whole," Mr Reddy said.
"Our graph has been on the rise. What we have reviewed is if there is any lacuna in organisational matters so that corrective measures will be taken in the days to come. We have taken feedback from the cadre which will be on the basis for strengthening the party structure," he said.
The swearing-in ceremony, scheduled today around 7.30 pm at Nagarjuna Nagar located between Vijayawada and Guntur, is expected to be attended by lakhs of people and VIPs besides three Union Ministers - Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nirmala Sitharaman.