Need for intensified drive to end graft : Naidu

Tirupati: Stating that a wind of anti-corruption was blowing across the country, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday called for enhanced public awareness to intensify popular mood for ending the menace. Addressing party activists at Thummalagunta, he said the Congress rout by nascent AAP in Delhi and the resounding victory of BJP-led NDA in the three States show that people no more tolerated corruption.

Naidu claimed that Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi were following many good initiatives of the TDP regime. He exuded confidence that by Ugadi (April) a golden future will be ushered in in the State, with people also following suit. Naidu arrived here en route to his native Naravaripalli to celebrate Sankranti, along with his family. Continuing his attack on corruption, he said a person had amassed thousands of crores, misusing his father’s position, while another, in the name of movement, earned crore of rupees, hitting out indirectly at YSRCP and TRS chiefs. He lamented that such tainted persons were brazenly going round lecturing people .

Lashing out at YSRCP chief Y S Jagan, without naming him, Naidu hinted at his imprisonment and prosecution. ‘People want a clean person who was not jailed or faced or facing cases’. On the alleged involvement of the YSRCP and Congress activists in red sander smuggling, he alleged that they had turned Veerappans. ``They are not sparing even temple and deity, for their earning’’ he said, referring to irregularities in temple managements, including TTD.

The TDP, he asserted, would continue its struggle to stop the Congress and YSRCP from looting the State. Reacting to Jagan’s charge of TDP-Congress collusion for power, he said TD was the only party which consistently opposed the Congress for over 30 years. Naidu said the promises he has been making to various sections were not impossible to impellent.

Training his gun on Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Naidu accused the Congress governments at the Centre and the State of miserably failing to control raising prices. He opposed the Aadhar link for availing cash subsidy for LPG. Naidu offered prayers at Chamundeswari Temple and addressed many meetings en route to Naravaripalli.