Votes being bought at Rs 5000 in Kadapa

Alleging that each vote in the Kadapa constituency was being ‘bought’ at around Rs 5,000, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday exhorted the people of the constituency to question themselves on how such a huge amount of cash had been amassed by the politicians.

Talking to media persons at his residence on Saturday, Mr Naidu said that a person who in 2009 had declared his assets as Rs 77.40 crore while his assets in 2004 were Rs 9.18 lakh,  could now pay around Rs 5,000 per vote in the by-elections.

The former chief minister said that it was a wonder that how can Mr Jaganmohan Reddy earn so much money within such a short period. “How can anyone earn much so easily, unless there is something illegal about the means adopted,” Mr Naidu said.

He said that the Kadapa leader is dreaming of becoming the Chief Minister, forgetting that he neither has the age nor the experience to lead the state.

“YS Jaganmohan Reddy is talking about justice, dharma. How can such a person talk about justice is beyond my understanding. Taking the help of anti-social elements to come to power will not work. The people of the state have become wiser, they will never allow this to happen,” Mr Naidu said.

A bomb was one of the desired objects in faction-ridden Kadapa five years ago, now the same people are asking for ‘suitcases’ (full of cash) these days. “Mr Jaganmohan Reddy is the chief contributor to this change,” Mr Naidu said.

“The inefficiency of the Congress government has landed the state in a crisis. The welfare schemes, people’s problems, social issues, all have been left to the wind,” the former chief minister stated.

The TDP chief stated that he would leave for Kadapa to campaign for the party candidates MV Mysoora Reddy and M Ravindranath Reddy by Venkatadiri Express later on Saturday night. He added he would campaign for three days and would conduct only road shows.