Visakhapatnam: Addressing a media conference on Tuesday at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, the Rajya Sabha member and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress general secretary V Vijaysai Reddy stated that the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and president of TDP N Chandrababu Naidu had sent Rs 1,200 crore to Telangana to be distributed among voters for the upcoming elections on December 7. He added that this was part of the Praja Kutami alliance that both the parties (Congress and TDP) had signed up for.

Reddy also claimed that similarly Rs 500 crore was sent to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to be distributed among voters. “In the next general elections in 2019, he will give Rs 5,000 crore as his national share under the TDP-Congress alliance, and he has already promised this to All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi,” he added. The Congress secretary noted that Naidu would pay Rs 5,000 per voter for the Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, by-election. The chief minister, he added, has assigned Rs 15,000 crore for every 2.5 crore voter there. Commenting on the increase of corruption in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the MP said that Naidu gets a commission of 40% in every major contract and transaction that comes under his approval.  

The Rajya Sabha member professed that the money that was looted from Andhra Pradesh in the name of Pushkarams, state capital, IT, land scams, sand mafia, employment guarantee schemes, Chandranna Kanuka, etc., and was being used to fund the elections. On the whole, Rs 4 lakh crore had been collected by Naidu, alleged Vijaysai Reddy.    

Speaking on Naidu’s strategies, Reddy said, “During the Karnataka elections, hundreds of crores was sent there in transport buses owned by TDP MPs. Now, Chandrababu Naidu is sending Rs 1,200 crore — Rs 10 crore for each constituency — for the Telangana elections. That is why, in the poll advertisements of the Congress, the photograph of Chandrababu Naidu is shown much bigger than the rest.” He also said candidate Revanth Reddy joining Congress was a pre-planned decision of Naidu as it would help with the distribution of money.  

“Chandrababu Naidu has become the financier to various parties in the elections as he has diverted huge sums to the neighbouring Karnataka by vehicles of an MP, who owns a transport company and now has been funding Congress in the Telangana elections from the ill-gotten wealth plundered in the state through corruption and kickbacks,” said Reddy. “The people behind this are Rajesh, Srinivas, Gopi, Yerapathineni Srinivasa Rao, Subbarao and others who are with Pappunaidu, and they will transport the money bags. It is for the people to recover their own public money,” he added.    

“He says he is as pure as fire. Brands those who defected from the TDP in Telangana as traitors. But will not say anything about the 23 MLAs he purchased in AP. I am told that apart from legal action, he was also contemplating criminal action against me. I am not afraid. People cannot be bought with money. They know what Naidu is doing, and they will teach the TDP a fitting lesson in the elections,” he added.