Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), May 1 (IANS) BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Thursday alleged that Y.S. Rajasekara Reddy during his five-year rule looted Andhra Pradesh and filled the coffers of ‘mother-son’ (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).
Addressing an election rally here, he said the Congress turned Andhra Pradesh into ‘scam Andhra’ by looting the state for 10 years and appealed to people to decide whether they want to continue the same tradition. He was referring to YSR Congress party led by Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the late chief minister.
“You are at a critical juncture. You have to decide whether you want golden Andhra or scam Andhra,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said in an obvious reference to corruption allegations against Jaganmohan Reddy.
Modi along with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan is on a whirlwind election campaign in Seemandhra, the residual regions of Rayalseema and coastal Andhra after the creation of separate Telangana.
The trio addressed a meeting in Tirupati Wednesday night. They participated in a series of meetings since Thursday morning.
After addressing a rally at Madanapalle in Chittoor district in the morning, they spoke at the meetings at Guntur and in West Godavari district. They are also scheduled to address a meeting at Visakhapatnam later in the day. Modi appealed to people to bring TDP-BJP alliance led by Chandrababu Naidu to power to turn the region into golden Andhra.
Referring to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the Gujarat chief minister said the mother-son government “backstabbed” Seemandhra and shattered the dreams of the people of the region.
“The Delhi government has orphaned you but I will not abandon you,” he assured the people.
Modi said if voted to power at both the centre and in the state, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would develop it on par with Gujarat.
“Our dream is to supply water and power to farmers and to provide employment opportunities to youths,” he said and promised to set up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Seemandhra.