Politics

YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has alleged that the custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna and the suicide of Kranti Kumar reflect a dangerous culture of police excesses under the TDP-led government in Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati: YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday said that the alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna was not an isolated atrocity but the outcome of a dangerous culture fostered under the TDP-led coalition government. City & Local Guides Over the past few days, Andhra Pradesh has been shaken by the alleged “disappearance” of Krishna, whose mother accused Vijayawada’s Krishna Lanka police inspector Nagaraju of torturing her son to death and then clandestinely cremating his body without the knowledge of family members. “Be it custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna, whose body was allegedly cremated secretly by the police or the suicide of Kranti Kumar after accusing police harassment in a selfie video. They are the outcome of a dangerous culture fostered under the TDP,” Jagan said in a post on ‘X’. Kumar (Perupogu Kranthi Kumar), a Dalit man from Vijayawada, had accused Nagaraju of driving him to suicide through his alleged harassment and torture. In the selfie video, Kumar was seen consuming poison and ending his life due to Nagaraju’s harassment on May 21. The video went viral in the wake of Krishna’s case also being linked to Nagaraju. Observing that incidents pertaining to Krishna and Kumar were not isolated, the opposition leader highlighted that “fear, not justice, was becoming the defining feature of policing in the state.” Jagan claimed that encouraging  political vendetta through police harassment would allow the police to take the law into their own hands, corrupt institutions and embolden sections of the police force to operate beyond established laws, rules and constitutional safeguards. Politics “That warning has become a painful reality.  Political opponents were targeted first. Social media activists followed. Journalists, intellectuals and dissenting voices came next,” the YSRCP chief said. What began as political persecution has now evolved into a dangerous habit of unchecked policing, where ordinary people too are becoming victims of intimidation, harassment and abuse of authority, he claimed. Underscoring that Krishna’s case has shaken the conscience of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan said his grieving mother, Gade Vijaya Lakshmi, is still pleading for answers and asking authorities to hand over even her “son’s ashes if his body cannot be produced.” Has such a horrifying situation ever occurred in the state’s history, asked Jagan, underlining that Kumar’s case is equally disturbing, who publicly accused the police (inspector Nagaraju) of sustained harassment. “In Tuni, Tirupathamma recorded a selfie video alleging police harassment before ending her life. Kalavathi from Srikakulam district committed suicide due to police harassment. In Kurnool district, Dalit woman Gangamma allegedly died due to police torture,” Jagan said. The former CM claimed that Gangamma was secretly buried, even as her family is seeking a judicial probe into the circumstances surrounding her death. When such incidents occur repeatedly, they cease to be coincidences and begin to reflect a deeply troubling pattern, he alleged. Besides police excesses allegedly becoming routine in the southern state, Jagan claimed that opposition activists are publicly humiliated and paraded on roads for “petty allegations involving the cutting of a hen or a goat.” “In the name of moral policing, officers are increasingly behaving as judge, jury and executioner. Yet when YSRCP leaders and workers approach police stations with complaints, cases are being ignored or brushed aside. This blatant double standard has severely damaged public confidence in the Police department,” he said. Further, he stressed that DGP Harish Kumar Gupta, Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu “cannot escape responsibility for this collapse of accountability.” “Andhra Pradesh deserves governance under Dr BR Ambedkar’s Constitution. Police are meant to protect rights, uphold the law and serve justice, not function as instruments of political revenge,” he said. Politics Alleging that the rule of fear is replacing the rule of law, Jagan asked if Andhra Pradesh has reached the point where “people fear the police most.” If fear replaces justice and power replaces law, democracy itself becomes the victim, he added. Meanwhile, during a public meeting at Lingamguntla in Palnadu district today, Naidu accused the YSRCP of engaging in venomous propaganda on every issue. Accusing Jagan-led YSRCP of only indulging in hatred and atrocities, he said the opposition party lacks development. Naidu claimed that YSRCP hinders development, pushes people into trouble without any better thoughts.

Ibrahimpatnam (Andhra Pradesh): The house of former minister and YSRCP leader Jogi Ramesh was allegedly vandalised and set on fire here in NTR district on Sunday. The incident came a day after the party claimed there was an attempt to murder senior YSRCP leader Ambati Rambabu. High drama unfolded at Ibrahimpatnam for several hours, with dozens of people seen ransacking Ramesh’s house and setting parts of it on fire, according to footage aired on vernacular news channels. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), West Zone, Durga Rao, confirming the attack to PTI, said that no arrests have been made so far. The ACP further said that police are bringing the situation under control. Meanwhile, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP alleged that the incident triggered panic in the locality as household articles were damaged and the premises were left vandalised. The YSRCP alleged that Ramesh, a prominent BC leader, was deliberately targeted and claimed that the incident reflected a complete breakdown of law and order in Andhra Pradesh. Back-to-back attacks on former ministers within two days indicate a pattern of political intimidation against opposition leaders, the party added.

The TDP leaders are at odds, with the legislator accusing the Parliamentarian of taking huge money to fetch ticket to contest in the run-up to elections, which the latter denies The rivalry that is brewing between Vijayawada Member of Parliament Kesineni Sivanath and Tiruvuru legislator K. Srinivasa Rao for quite some time erupted into a full-blown war on Thursday, as the latter accused the Parliamentarian of “taking a huge sum for fetching him ticket to contest in the Tiruvuru constituency.” Mr. Srinivasa Rao kicked up the row by posting, what he claimed to be proof of the money paid by him to Mr. Sivanath, in his WhatsApp status, drawing flak from the MP, who dismissed the allegation as “motivated,” and said people were wise enough to understand the whole episode.

APRAPL is a “deemed DISCOM” existing only on paper and it lacked the infrastructure, financial resources and operational capabilities required under the Electricity Act, 2003, the Left party leader said a Rao. File | Photo Credit: G.N. RAO The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has urged the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to reject the State government’s proposal to establish the Andhra Pradesh Rural Agriculture Power Limited (APRAPL) as a separate power distribution entity for agriculture and rural consumers, alleging that the move would ultimately burden consumers and pave the way for privatisation of power distribution. Addressing a press conference in Vijayawada on Sunday (June 21), CPI(M) State secretary V Srinivasa Rao and others described APRAPL as a “deemed DISCOM” existing only on paper and argued that it lacked the infrastructure, financial resources and operational capabilities required under the Electricity Act, 2003.