''Was Escobar Chandrababu Naidu's friend'': Jagan hits back over being compared to drug lord

Amaravati: YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy whom Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu compared to Pablo Escobar, threw the ball back into the TDP chief's court on Friday when he asked mockingly if Naidu had been a friend of the late Colombian drug lord.

While presenting a white paper yesterday on the law-and-order situation and the alleged drug menace in the state under YSRCP rule between 2019 and 2024, Naidu had claimed that Reddy had aimed at emulating Escobar.

On Friday, Reddy addressed a press conference responding to Naidu's allegations and asked, “Is he Chandrababu’s friend that he knows his name so well? He must be. Otherwise, I don’t know his name (Escobar) itself. On the other hand, Chandrababu Naidu is repetitively speaking about a particular person (Escobar)."

Speaking over the alleged atrocities being committed against his party cadres since the TDP-led NDA took over the reins of power, Reddy reflected on the absence of the Congress party during YSRCP’s recent protest held in New Delhi over the matter. He said the Congress party should be questioned about this.

The former CM asserted that the YSRCP had invited all the parties, including the Congress and the BJP, for the protest and a photo exhibition.

He also said the Congress party should be questioned over its alleged ties with Naidu and how Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy is being used as a point of contact to reach Congress elders.

However, he declared that the YSRCP would work with any party that joins it in fighting against the "injustices" in the state.

According to Reddy, Naidu allegedly has a knack of engaging in "diversion politics" using the might of the media to discredit and defame any person he wants to target.

Referring to the seven white papers released by Naidu, he called them "erroneous papers" and alleged that the TDP-led government failed to convince the public that the state’s debt is as high as Rs 14 lakh crore, and so it was revised down to Rs 10 lakh crore.

Stressing that there is no protection for women in the state, Reddy alleged that up to 12 women were raped within 45 days of the NDA government coming to power in Andhra Pradesh.

Likewise, Reddy highlighted that women, farmers, students and several other sections used to receive their welfare schemes and benefits on time during his government but observed that that was not the case anymore under the NDA government.

Inputs from PTI