Amaravati: Just a week after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government was toppled in Andhra Pradesh and YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) witnessed a landslide victory in the state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, friction between the two parties has already begun.

Andhra Pradesh's former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's son Nara Lokesh, who contested from Mangalagiri Assembly constituency, claimed that Sakshi TV has been spreading fake news about him, and has demanded that Sakshi media group withdraw the "allegations."

The chief minister-elect Jaganmohan owns Sakshi TV and Sakshi Telugu newspaper. The chairperson of Sakshi Publications and Sakshi TV is his wife, YS Bharati Reddy.

According to reports, a letter addressed to K Ramachandra Murthy, editorial director of Sakshi Media Group, Lokesh wrote that he strongly condemned the "fake news that Sakshi TV had spread against him."

The letter further said that Sakshi TV channel had broadcasted breaking news on May 28, quoting him saying that TDP leaders and workers are responsible for the party's defeat. “If EVMs have betrayed the party by 10%, party workers have betrayed him 90%,” the TV quoted him, according to Lokesh.

 

Speaking to MyNation, TDP treasurer Prem Kumar Jain said, "Everybody knows that Sakshi TV belongs to Jaganmohan Reddy. So they will broadcast all the news in favour of Jagan. They are manipulating the news on their TV channel. That is why we addressed this issue with the person-in-charge of that TV channel."

"His government has not even begun. He still did not take the oath, and before that, all this is happening. We will wait for Jagan to run the government for some time and see what he is doing to the state and then we will react," Prem Kumar added.

MyNation also tried to contact the YSR Congress Party leaders to know more about the incident but calls to them left unanswered.

Jaganmohan will be sworn-in as Andhra Pradesh chief minister on May 30 at Vijayawada's Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium.