As D-day for byelections to the 18 Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat nears and electioneering picks up, the issue all parties are zeroing in on is the alleged amassing of wealth by YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
It is only in Parkal that the focus is on Telangana and not on the Kadapa MP. While the Congress has for long attacked Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Telugu Desam and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are now changing the game somewhat, demanding action against ministers in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in scams involving Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Both parties have asked CBI to bring to book the ministers involved in different scams under which IAS officials, industrialists, businessmen and others have been arrested. While burning public issues such as drought, drinking water problems in both rural and urban areas and power cuts have taken a backseat, this is perhaps the first bypolls where corruption by a single individual is the focus for all political parties.
“These polls are Jagan-centric because of his corrupt deeds. Congress ministers were also involved in wealth amassed by him, as they had cooperated in all his misdeeds,” senior TD leader Manda Venkateshwara Rao alleged. Mr Rao demanded that CBI should probe the tainted ministers, like it investigated others accused in the corruption cases. “Half the Cabinet is involved in the Jagan scams,” he alleged.
Attacking both the Congress and the YSR Congress for the spate of scams, BJP national secretary K. Laxman said, “Corruption is rampant during the Congress rule. Ministers were hand in glove with Jagan. Why is the government not taking action against them while officials are being shunted out or sent to jail?”