Amaravati: Hours after the attack on YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Thursday hit out at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and Telangana Rashtra Samithi for “conspiring” against his government and trying to destabilise the state.
The YSR congress leader was injured when he was attacked by a man with a small knife at the airport lounge in Visakhapatnam.
“These are the dramas being played by the Centre and the Telangana government. They are trying to destabilise the state since we have been demanding justice by implementing the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. We will not tolerate their conspiracies,” Naidu told a press conference late Thursday.
Referring to the reported telephone call Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan made to state DGP R P Thakur to enquire about the attack, the chief minister questioned the very institution of the governor. “What is the governors jurisdiction? How can he call the DGP and seek a report? I am the chief minister here and he should ask me,” Naidu said.
The Chief Minister said the accused in the attack confessed that he did it only to garner sympathy for the YSR congress as he wanted to see Jagan Mohan Reddy as chief minister. “The accused also wrote a letter stating he is a fan of YSRC. Investigation into the case will bring out more details,” he added.
Hitting out at the Centre, Naidu said the attack took place in the VIP lounge in the afternoon and maintained that the state government had no jurisdiction over it. “The airport is under the government of India’s control. If something happened outside, the state government would have been responsible but since it happened inside, whose responsibility is it,” the Chief Minister said, addressing a conference of district collectors here.
He pointed out that the YSR congress leader had left for Hyderabad soon after the incident. “Ascertaining how the incident happened is part of the investigation process but if the injured person goes away, how could our police go to another state and conduct the probe,” he asked.
How would it be possible to investigate the case without a medical certificate, he said. “It’s all an effort to divert my focus. They may have partly succeeded in that but they cannot succeed completely. How to prevent us from working seems to be the Centre’s thought behind hatching such conspiracies,” Naidu said.