Amaravati, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Thursday termed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy describing bribe taking as a crime as a joke of the century.

The TDP leader was reacting to Jagan Mohan Reddy's remarks made after launching a mobile app for people to lodge complaint against officials demanding bribe.

The TDP leader expressed surprise that having looted all systems and sectors in the state, CM Jagan was now talking about rooting out corruption. Jagan Reddy plundered public property during his father YSR's rule and started looting several times more after becoming CM himself.

The former minister asserted that Jagan has no moral right or standing to speak about corruption as he himself is accused number one in over 14 quid pro quo chargesheets. When official corruption should be considered a crime, then what about Jagan looting through quid pro quo deals? he asked.

Ramakrishnudu said that the so-called social justice that Jagan Reddy was boasting about was just lip service which had zero implementation in practice.

The TDP leader said Jagan Reddy has not done justice to any social group or community in the past three years.

Jagan had crushed poorer sections so much that AP stood in 20th place in the whole country in the multidimensional poverty index (MDPI) taken by the Oxford University. AP has climbed from 34 to 43rd place in economic imbalances, he said.

Ramakrishnudu dared the chief minister to explain why AP fell to 19th place in the country in direct benefit transfer (DBT). Amma Vodi was not being given to eligible families. As a result, their students were not getting admissions in colleges. He allege that Jagan has failed totally to provide educational opportunities to the weaker sections.

The TDP leader deplored that the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report by the Union education department has exposed how badly the AP education system has been harmed. The NAS report revealed AP's failure to reach digital classes to 50 per cent children during the Coronavirus pandemic. Ninety per cent of children in Government schools belonged to the weaker sections and backward classes.

Ramakrishnudu said the future of children belonging to Dalits, Tribals and BCs was getting destroyed because of the anarchic policies. The earning and spending capacity of all sections of people in AP had fallen drastically in just three years.

The TDP leader asserted that while the per capita income stood in two digits in the TDP regime, it has come down to an alarming single digit of 1.03 per cent in the past three years. The GSDP growth rate, which was two digits in the Chandrababu rule, has slipped to negative growth of -2.58 per cent.
 

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