Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday replied to his successor Chandrababu Naidu’s comparison of drug lord Pablo Escobar with him, saying that he does not even know who Escobar is.
“Is he Chandrababu’s friend that he knows his name so well? He must be. Otherwise, I don’t know his name (Escobar) itself. On the other hand, Chandrababu Naidu is repetitively speaking about a particular person (Escobar),” the YSRCP leader said during a press conference.
The newly formed Telegu Desam Party-led Andhra government on Thursday released a White Paper in the assembly on the excise policy formulated by the previous government. While presenting the paper, Naidu said, “I am the senior-most politician in the country and I have never seen a situation like it was in Andhra when Jagan was in power. There was only one person who can compare to what happened in Andhra, drug lord Pablo Escobar.”
According to Reddy, Naidu allegedly has a knack for engaging in “diversion politics” using the might of the media to discredit and defame any person he wants to target.
Referring to the seven white papers released by Naidu, he called them “erroneous papers” and alleged that the TDP-led government failed to convince the public that the state’s debt was as high Rs 14 lakh crore, and so it was revised down to Rs 10 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, Naidu had alleged in the house that Reddy’s Excise Policy was “deceptive, flawed and inconsistent” and vowed that his government would order a CID probe into the matter.
He added that the policy not only harmed the well-being of alcohol consumers but also had a significant impact on state revenues. He alleged that the state incurred losses worth Rs 18,860 crore under the YSRCP administration.
With inputs from PTI
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