Rebel MP Raghu Rama Raju (RRR) has targetted his latest attack on the favouritism being shown by the Jagan Reddy regime to his own caste. He says that it is not ‘Red Tapism’ or any such thing. What is going on in AP now is only ‘Reddyism’. All top posts in the Government were being given to this caste alone. This is contrary to the spirit with which the voters voted for CM Jaganmohan Reddy and gave him a landmark mandate. RRR says the Christians from all castes and communities voted for Jagan Reddy thinking that he and his family members were their champions. But now, only caste was getting all top posts while the weaker sections were being given the lower level posts.

Rajugaru raised his voice a bit today in his direct attack on Jagan Reddy. He kept raising his finger as if pointing towards the CM asking why his regime was behaving very oddly in such serious matters. How can YSRCP activists be given posts in the Government? How can they draw salaries from the Government but yet work for the ruling party? This was not prevalent anywhere else.

RRR demanded Jagan Reddy to initiate action against Gurrampati Devender Reddy who was looking after the social media affairs of the YSRCP. Mr. Raju asked why the CM was silent when Devender Reddy was stooping to low levels and making personal remarks against other leaders. How can Devender Reddy be allowed to draw salary from the Government when he was working for YSRCP?

Rebel MP Raghu Rama Raju (RRR) has wondered what the YSRCP Government is up to these days. Instead of correcting its decisions in the face of criticism, the Government is making more and more wrong decisions. If anybody like himself is making suggestions, it is being seen as an offence. Whatever, the Jagan regime’s policies are complicating things for itself. Large number of court cases were cropping up.

As a result, litigation has become the order of the day. RRR says it would be no wonder if in future, the AP Government would have to allocate separate funds for litigation cases in the courts. He says some Rs. 1,000 Cr or so separate budget would be required if the YSRCP does not mend its ways.

As is well known, each and every controversial decision of CM Jagan Reddy is eventually landing up in the courts. From English medium to the colours and to the PPAs, most crucial issues went to the courts. Even for simple problems the people were being forced to seek solutions from the courts. The Government was not volunteering to resolve them at its level.

RRR says the adamant attitude of the Government is hurting the people very badly. At least now, the ruling party should leave its head-strong policies and avoid further litigation in the interests of one and all.

After his veiled attacks, YSRCP ‘rebel’ MP Raghurama Krishnam Raju is now unleashing frontal broadside against Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

On Tuesday, he took jibes at Jagan stating that he should look into his (manasakshi) conscience and not ‘Sakshi’ while referring to Telugu news daily and a Telugu news channel founded by him and headquartered in Hyderabad.

A day after TDP president and former chief minister challenged Jagan to seek re-election on Amaravati, Raju too asked Jagan to seek fresh vote as a final referendum on the proposed three capitals move. “If you have the guts, seek public opinion and go for re-election. Currently, you have 151 members in the Assembly, dissolve the assembly and seek a fresh vote. If the people are in favour of the three capitals, you might even bag all the 175 seats in the Assembly,” he said, throwing a direct challenge at Jagan.

“You should look into your manasakshi, and not Sakshi,” he said rather tongue-in-cheek referring to Sakshi TV Channel’s slogan “Sakshi, Mee Manasaksi’.

For the last three months or so, Raju never directly attacked Jagan. But in the last two days, Raju had been training his guns at Chief Minister. On the trifurcation issue, Raju asked if the Andhra Pradesh government has enough money to build three capitals. “The government has no money to increase pension for the old people, from where will it get crores of rupees to build three capitals,” he questioned.

Further, Raju pointed out under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, farmers would have to be given Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 crore as compensation. “If Jagan continues Amaravati as capital, the government can save a lot of money. Only around Rs 4000-5000 crore will have to be spent on capital building in Amaravati. The government has deceived the farmers by creating the Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA),” he slammed the Jagan ‘sarkar’. He termed the decision to approve the two bills as unlawful as it is in violation of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.

YSRCP’s ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha MP Raghurama Krishna Raju, who was highly critical of the move to implement English medium in government schools and sought the central government’s intervention in ensuring education in mother tongue in primary classes, feels his stand is vindicated.

He continued with his tongue-in-cheek comments. On Thursday, he took potshots at Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy stating his government’s move to implement English medium in government schools had gained wide popularity so much so that it had caught the attention of the central government which had decided

Stating that it was a fallacy to think that progress could be achieved only if education was pursued in English, Raju noted that in China ‘Mandarin’ is by far the world’s most widely spoken language, with close to a billion native speakers.

“In a population of over 140 crore in China, at least 90 crore people speak in Mandarin. Mandarin as the official language of China. Spanish is the world’s second-most spoken native language after Mandarin. Spanish is the official language in at least 20 nations. Spanish is spoken by 4.85 percent of the world’s population and its use is even more widespread than English. English is followed by Hindi as the most spoken language in the world. All the world countries want their population to speak in their native language. This is the top priority of most governments across the world,” Raju pointed out.

The ‘rebel’ YSRCP MP stressed the need for giving a special thrust to the respective official language by every state government and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy also should follow the same policy.

“Mother tongue denotes the identity, culture and traditions of people in different states in India. Every state should follow the central government policy. Andhra Pradesh should respect Telugu language and desist from imparting education in English medium at primary level,” Raju pointed out. He stressed the need to impart education in the mother tongue up to primary school in line with the central government’s policy.

Raju’s comments come in the wake of Union Cabinet’s approval to the New Education Policy (NEP) that makes the medium of instruction in primary classes compulsory in mother tongue, local language or regional language in primary classes up to Class V. At the Union Cabinet meeting, it was decided that English could be optional up to Class 8.

The YSRCP MP has not been seeing eye-to-eye with several Jagan’s policies, including the implementation of English medium in government schools. As a matter of fact, he had raised the issue in Parliament seeking protection of Telugu language and Centre’s intervention in ensuring teaching in mother tongue in primary classes. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy took a serious view as this flew in the face of his government’s decision to introduce English medium in government schools for classes I to VI.

The Jagan government had issued a show-cause notice against Raju and later moved a disqualification petition before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Vijaysai Reddy had mentioned Raju’s opposition to the government’s move to implement English medium as one of the critical anti-party activities. However, Raju’s stated position for opposing English medium in government schools was on the ground that it is anti-Constitutional. Raju had stated, “My opposition to English medium in government schools was to uphold the spirit of the Constitution of India. Nothing can be above the Constitution of India, whether a political party or its manifesto.”

The Union Cabinet decision and Raju’s comments come at a time Jagan Mohan Reddy and his team are preparing to introduce English as a medium of education in the state’s government schools at primary level. A petition was filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court by Sudheesh Rambhotla and Guntupalli Srinivas. The petitioners had appealed to the court to declare the said GO as ultra vires of the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and violative of Articles 14, 21 and 21-A of the Constitution.

Subsequently, the Jagan government suffered a major setback with the High Court striking down G.O. Ms No.85 which made English medium education compulsory from classes I to VI in primary, upper primary and high schools under all managements from 2020-21. It was to be gradually extended to each further class from the next consequent academic years. However, the Andhra Pradesh government filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the HC verdict on its plan to introduce English as medium of instruction from classes I to Class VI in government schools.

With Andhra Pradesh’s Covid-19 tally breaching the grim milestone of one lakh positive cases racing ahead to unseat Delhi to become the second-worst pandemic hit state in the country, YSRCP ‘rebel’ MP Raghurama Krishna Raju on Wednesday unleashed a frontal attack against his own government demanding that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy initiate aggressive action to combat the spread of the infections.

Taking jibes at the Chief Minister, Raju advised him to desist from making public statements such as “learn to live with the coronavirus”. “Asking the people to live with the virus is sending wrong and ominous signals to the people. The chief minister should not be making such remarks as it erodes the public confidence in the government,” he suggested. When frontline warriors such as doctors, nurses and medical workers are working relentlessly in the war against the coronavirus risking their own lives, ‘live with the virus’ statements will be counter-productive, Raju observed.

Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the largest single day contributor of 7,948 cases to India’s total 42,002 new cases on Tuesday. The state has the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 positive cases at 1,10,297 cases and racing ahead to unseat Delhi to clinch the dubious third position in the country’s Corona ranking. A total of 1,148 Covid-19 patients have succumbed to the virus so far, and the fatality rate is growing each day.

“In such a scenario, repeatedly asking people to learn to live with the virus is rather unfortunate. Questions are being raised over the failure of public health leadership,” Raju said. Further, he advised the Chief Minister to constitute a committee comprising experts in the medical field mainly doctors to review the situation and evolve a mechanism to halt the alarming rise in infection rates in the state.

“The Chief Minister directed officials to ensure bed facilities to Covid-19 patients within 30 minutes. Our CM also warned serious action against district collectors and officials concerned for failure to provide bed facilities to Covid-10 patients. The CM direction is laudable, but the ground realities are different. Even to this day, even frontline warriors are not being provided with adequate PPE kits, masks and other medical gear. It is also true that the facilities in government quarantine are deplorable,” Raju noted.

Earlier, in a veiled attack, Raju advised Jagan Mohan Reddy to unleash innovative campaigns to contain the spread of the virus in the state. In a tongue-in-cheek comment, Raju said Jagan has more fan base than actor Chiranjeevi and that people will strictly follow if he makes an appeal to wear a face mask. “Jagan has more fans than Chiranjeevi. Hence, I appeal to the Chief Minister to start an innovative programme to bring awareness among the people. The programme should be a big hit like Chiranjeevi’s movies,” he had stated rather sarcastically.

He had stated that the Andhra Pradesh government had announced several welfare schemes, at least 20 of them under Jagan’s name. He had advised the state government to start a programme under ‘Jagananna’ name to combat the coronavirus pandemic. “People and the officials will take such a programme seriously. The Andhra Pradesh government should consider naming such a programme as ‘Jaganna Corona Care’ or ‘Jagananna Corona War’. Such a name will strike a chord with the officials and the public,” Raju took a jibe.

Raju had also advised Jagan to lead by example by wearing a face mask with an increasing number of his colleagues contracting the deadly virus.

YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha MP Raghu Rama Krishna Raju is yet again. He continued his veiled attacks on the YSRCP leadership while at the same time claiming to be a loyal soldier of the party.

On Tuesday, Raju once again expressed displeasure that he could not get an appointment with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to discuss some policy issues. “The Chief Minister is a busy man. He has no time for lesser mortals like me,” he quipped.

On the one hand, he pours scorn in his sarcasm-laced remarks, while praising Jagan on the other. Giving full credit to his poll victory in Narsapuram constituency to Jagan Mohan Reddy, Raju remarked, “I give 90 per cent of the credit to Jagan and the party for me victory, and I take a mere 10 per cent credit. We win the elections with the image of our party leader, and not that of Chandrababu Naidu or Mayawati.”

Further, Raju stated that he will visit his Narasapuram constituency if Jagan directs him to do so. However, Raju reiterated that he can only visit the constituency only if central security cover is provided. “If security cover is provided, I will visit my constituency in the next 10 days. So far, security has not been provided. I have been receiving threats from my own party leaders. To top it, some YSRCP leaders are ignoring and isolating me. Under such circumstances, it will be difficult to visit my constituency without the central security protection,” he said.

Raju had been hobnobbing with several central BJP leaders. He had met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy as well as Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to seek central police protection apprehending a threat to his life. He had apprised the BJP leaders that his own party leaders were threatening that he would be burnt to death if he visited his constituency.

He had recently dashed off a letter to LS Speaker Om Birla and complained about the alleged increasing attacks against him by his own partymen. He took up the issue with the Union Home Ministry.

He had also met President Ram Nath Kovid and explained in detail the current political environment in Andhra Pradesh. Raju had informed the President that his own party MLAs in Narasapuram constituency were staging protests by burning his effigies and threatening him for raising certain issues.

The YSRCP MP had not been seeing eye-to-eye with the government over its police. He had been vocal about the sand scarcity in AP following the flawed sand policy adopted by the Jagan government which has led to a steep spike in the price of sand thereby paralyzing the construction industry.

Raju had also strongly objected to the TTD’s move to sell some assets donated by the devotees. In an explosive admission on Times Now NewsHour debate on auctioning of temple assets by the TTD, Raju had admitted that Christian missionaries in Andhra Pradesh are pumping in large sums of money to carry out widespread religious conversions in the state.

YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha member Raghurama Krishnam Raju yet again displayed what he is good at — sarcasm.

Raju, who had not been seeing eye-to-eye with the Andhra Pradesh government over its policies, on Monday appealed to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to lead by example in the state’s combat against the pandemic.

Lauding megastar Chiranjeevi for his awareness campaign appealing to people to wear face masks, Raju said Jagan Mohan Reddy should unleash innovative campaigns to contain the spread of the virus in the state.

In a tongue-in-cheek comment, Raju said Jagan has more fan base than actor Chiranjeevi and that people will strictly follow if he makes an appeal to wear a face mask. “Jagan has more fans than Chiranjeevi. Hence, I appeal to the Chief Minister to start an innovative programme to bring awareness among the people. The programme should be a big hit like Chiranjeevi’s movies,” he stated rather sarcastically.

The Andhra Pradesh government had announced several welfare schemes, at least 20 of them under Jagan’s name, Raju pointed out. Similarly, he advised the state government to start a programme under ‘Jagananna’ name to combat the coronavirus pandemic. “People and the officials will take such a programme seriously. The Andhra Pradesh government should consider naming such a programme as ‘Jaganna Corona Care’ or ‘Jagananna Corona War’. Such a name will strike a chord with the officials and the public,” Raju took a jibe.

Earlier, Raju had advised the Chief Minister to lead by example by wearing a face mask. With an increasing number of his colleagues contracting the deadly virus, Jagan Mohan Reddy perhaps for the first time was seen wearing a mask at the Raj Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony of the two ministers who were recently inducted into his Cabinet.

Although the state government had announced a fine of Rs 1,000 for not wearing masks in urban areas and Rs 500 in rural areas, the public representatives, including the Chief Minister, were seldom seen wearing a face mask. Even during the recently held two-day Assembly session, Jagan and his colleagues were seen without masks.

It is not just Raju. TDP president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and party general secretary Lokesh also had urged Jagan to lead by example and wear a facemask when in public. However, Jagan and his colleagues continued to appear in public meetings without a face mask.

It is another matter that the YSRCP leaders were blamed for being ‘Super Spreaders’ of the deadly virus with their irresponsible rallies and meetings since the day the pandemic outbreak in the state.

Several YSRCP legislators contracted the virus in the recent past, including Tenali MLA Annabathuni Siva Kumar, Ponnur MLA Kilari Venkata Rosaiah and Kodumuru MLA Sudhakar.

Deputy Chief Minister Amzath Basha and Sullurpeta MLA Kiliveti Sanjeevaiah were recently shifted to private hospitals in Hyderabad. Another Deputy Chief Minister Narayana Swamy and his family were in home quarantine after two security personnel at his residence in Puttur tested positive for the COVID-19.

Each passing day, Raghu Rama Raju’s attacks and counter attacks are becoming more and more sharp. He has become a sworn-enemy and die-hard critic of the Jagan Reddy regime. There is no holiday on Sunday also for his one-man battle against the countless leaders of YCP. Today, Minister Avanti Srinivas bitterly criticised RRR for calling the death of social media activist Nalanda Kishore as the Jagan Reddy government’s murder. The Minister warned of dire consequences and demanded his own party MP to stop his baseless campaigns. The Minister demanded Rajugaru to withdraw his statement regarding Kishore’s death.

On his part, RRR reacted within a few hours. When Avanti made allegations around noon, Rajugaru issued his counter by afternoon. Such was the speed at which he was hitting back and thus badly hurting the massive ego of the ruling YCP leaders. Anyhow, RRR stuck to his guns. He told the Minister once again that Nalanda Kishore died only because of the preplanned conspiracy of the government and the AP Police. He again asserted that the police in connivance with the ruling party leaders put Kishore in a Coronavirus patients’ ward. Rajugari outright attacks were leaving the YSRCP leaders dazed and confused, unable to give powerful counters.

As regards charisma, RRR reiterated that his own personal image played a greater role than that of Jagan Reddy in his victory in Narasapuram Lok Sabha constituency. He delivered a punch to the Minister that he had no need to resign since he won the seat on his own charisma.

YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha member Raghurama Krishnam Raju on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict reinstating Nimmaggada Ramesh Kumar as the State Election Commissioner (SEC).

The Andhra Pradesh government should at least honour the verdict and initiate steps to continue Ramesh Kumar as the SEC, Raju stated. “The Supreme Court has safeguarded the constitutional provisions and values. At least now, the Andhra Pradesh government should realise that hasty decisions will result in humiliation and bring disgrace. The government should understand that it has limited powers. It should understand that the constitution is above the government,” he pointed out.

Raju cautioned the Andhra Pradesh government not to arrive at a situation where Article 356 of the Constitution could be enforced to dismiss the government if it fails to implement the court orders. “The government is unwilling to accept my advice and suggestions. There are several advisors in the government. They do not seem to give proper guidance and advice to the government. These advisors are misleading Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy who is taking wrong decisions based on the wrong advice. It is also unfortunate that several leaders are lowering the dignity of the courts and judges by posting objectionable and contemptuous posts in social media. There are some people in the party who are backing the leaders making such remarks against the judiciary instead of warning them not to lower the dignity of the courts and judges. This is most unfortunate,” Raju pointed out.

The YSRCP Lok Sabha member also pointed out that the courts and judges are closely watching and following the happenings in Andhra Pradesh. “It is foolhardy to think that the courts will keep quiet as mute spectators. At least now, the government should realise its follies and honour the court verdicts else it may have to face Article 356. The government has not implemented the Governor’s directive, at least it should respect the Supreme Court verdict. Ramesh Kumar has taken the right decision in postponing the elections to civic bodies. Already a wrong message was sent to the people in this issue. Chief Minister should put a full stop to the entire episode,” Raju advised.

While Ramesh Kumar took the wise decision to put off civic body polls, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy made reckless statements such as “we have to live with the virus. Parcetamol and bleaching powder is enough to combat the pandemic. Currently, the Covid-19 situation in the state is alarming. If every single person gets coronavirus, the entire money allocated in the Budget should be spent on Arogyasri. The government should feel responsible and desist from making such statements on Covid-19 and initiate serious measures to combat the pandemic. The Chief Minister should lead by example and wear a mask,” Raju gave his piece of mind.

Raju had not been seeing eye-to-eye on various policy decisions of the Jagan government, including implementation of English medium in government schools, TTD’s proposed move to sell Sri Vari assets, wide-spread Christian conversions in AP, illegal sand mining and various corrupt deals.

The YSRCP viewed Raju’s suggestions as anti-party activities and issued a show-cause notice. In his reply, Raju stated that the show-cause notice lacked legal sanctity. The YSRCP MPs had met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and moved a disqualification petition against Raju. On his part, Raju had met several central BJP leaders seeking central police protection apprehending a threat to his life from his own party leaders. He had met President Ram Nath Kovind, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in this regard. Raju had also moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Delhi High Court in this regard.

After writing to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla last month, YSRCP ‘rebel’ LS member Raghurama Krishna Raju on Monday moved the Delhi High Court seeking central police protection apprehending threat to his life from his own party men.

Raju, through his counsel Adinarayana Rao, contended that his own party leaders were threatening him with physical attacks if he entered his Parliamentary constituency in Narasapuram. Raju argued that he was seeking central forces protection as his written complaints to the local police went in vain. He appealed to the Delhi High Court appealing to direct the government concerned to provide armed security for him from central forces as he has no confidence in the state police.

“I have received several threat calls from my own party leaders. The state police have turned a blind eye to the written complaints I had lodged with the local police. I have no faith and trust in the state police. I am frightened to go to my constituency without protection. Therefore, I am seeking the protection of the central armed forces,” he said on Monday. Earlier, Raju had lodged a police complaint with West Godavari police stating that his own party leaders were abusing him and threatening to attack him during his visits in the constituency.

Further, Raju said he will be meeting President Ram Nath Kovind to express fears of threat to his life from his own party leaders. Last week, Raju had met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and a host of central BJP leaders fuelling speculation that he may join the saffron party. However, Raju has ruled out joining the BJP

In the last few months, Raju has not been seeing eye-to-eye with the policy decisions of the Jagan government much to the chagrin of the YSRCP leadership.

Raju had openly criticised the YSRCP’s policies, including implementation of English medium in government schools in Andhra Pradesh, TTD’s proposed move to sell Sri Vari assets, rampant illegal sand mining in Andhra Pradesh and wide-spread Christian conversions in Andhra Pradesh. Following this, the YSRCP leadership had issued a show-cause notice for his alleged “anti-party activities”. In his reply to the show-cause notice, Raju had questioned its legal sanctity stating it was served under the letterhead of YSR Congress while the party was registered as Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party.

YSRCP MPs led by Vijaysai Reddy and Raju had separately met Lok Sabha Speaker to put forth their respective points of view. Vijaysai Reddy along with three other MPs submitted a disqualification petition against Raju, while Raju had written a letter to Om Birla that his own party MLAs in Narasapuram constituency were staging protests by burning his effigies and threatening him for raising critical issues.

The YSRCP leaders unleashed a verbal onslaught against Raju for raising key issues and levelling corruption charges against the Jagan government. The attacks by the YSRCP leaders against Raghu Rama krishnam Raju heightened after the MP used Rajanikant’s popular dialogue (Nanna pandule gumpuga vastayi simham Single ga vastundi — pigs come in herd , but a lion walks in solo) to hit out at his political critics.

YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha member on Wednesday met Union defence minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi fuelling speculation that he might join the BJP.

This is the second time in less than a month that Raju has met Rajnath Singh. His meeting comes in the wake of show cause notice issued by Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy to Raju accusing them of “anti-party activities” and later moved disqualification proceedings against him. Both the warring sides have met Om Birla putting forth their respective views before the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Talking to mediapersons after meeting Rajnath Singh, Raju however ruled out joining the BJP. Further, he clarified that his meetings with the BJP leaders are purely professional. He said he was meeting the BJP leaders only as a MP representing the YSRCP. “I will remain a loyal soldier of the YSRCP party. I want the YSRCP government to be in power for the next 25 years. There is a big difference between government and party. I am consulting and meeting the central BJP leaders as an MP. Since I am the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, I keep meeting the central BJP leaders to exchange views and suggestions. One should not read beyond this. Some party leaders are conspiring to remove me as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee,” he said.

There has been a gnawing gap between Raju and some YSRCP leaders ever since he had raised certain issues opposing the party stand on English medium education, artificial scarcity of sand due to rampant illegal mining, TTD’s proposed move to sell Sri Vari assets and wide-spread Christian conversions in the state. However, Raju ruled out any gaps between him and party leadership. “I always made suggestions to the party leadership to protect its public image. My suggestions are not anti-party, rather the opposite,” he said.

On June 26, Raju dashed off his response to the show-cause notice issued by Vijaysai Reddy. In his reply, Raju stated that show-cause notice lacked legal sanctity as it was served under the letterhead of the YSR Congress Party instead of the party name ‘Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’ which is the registered name in the Election Commission of India. Further, he sought to know in what capacity Vijayasai Reddy had sent the show cause notice to him.

“I am surprised to see you designating yourself as national general secretary of our party which is Registered as State recognised party as per Para 6A of the Election Symbols Reservation and Allotment Order 1968. Have you served this show-cause notice in the capacity of National General Secretary? If so, I doubt the authority vested to this chair with all regards as per the party constitution that was submitted by our party to the Election Commission of India. It is the byelaw of our party that we ought to be constituting a disciplinary committee ever since we intend to call ourselves a political party,” Raju had pointed out.

YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha member Raghurama Krishnam Raju against whom the party high-command had moved a disqualification petition once again stirred the Hornet’s nest.

On Tuesday, Raju dashed off a letter to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to rescue the construction workers who lost their livelihood due to the corona imposed lockdown. In the letter, Raju stated that there are approximately 20 lakh 60,000 construction workers in the state who have Aadhaar cards. However, the state government had failed to link all the construction workers to their Aadhaar. “Only 10 lakh 60,000 construction workers have been linked to their Aadhaar. The government should immediately link the rest of the construction workers to Aadhar,” he said.

Further, Raju pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government received Rs 1,364 crore towards Building and Construction Workers Welfare fund between 2014 and 2019. However, the state government had spent only Rs 330 crore for the welfare of the construction workers. “The government should give Rs 5,000 to each construction worker from the remaining Rs 1,000 crore,” Raju advised the Jagan government.

The Building and Construction Workers Welfare fund is raised by state governments by levying a cess of 1% of construction cost and is part of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, which regulates the employment and working condition of construction workers and provides for their safety and welfare measures.

Raju has not been seeing eye-to-eye with the policy decisions of the Jagan government. He was highly critical of the Andhra Pradesh government’s move to implement English medium in government schools and also raised the issue in Parliament seeking protection of Telugu language and Centre’s intervention in ensuring teaching in mother tongue in primary classes. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy took a serious view as this flew in the face of his government’s decision to introduce English medium in government schools for classes I to VI. Raju had also opposed the proposed sale of certain Tirumala assets, raised the issue of illegal sand mining and rampant Christian conversions in the state.

In a frank and bold interview, YCP rebel MP Raghu Rama Raju shared his experiences with YS Rajasekhar Reddy as part of his birthday celebrations. Raju recalled an interesting incident that occurred right on the day YSR was sworn in as Chief Minister for the first time. Himself present there, Raju laughed on seeing a Sreedhar cartoon in Eenadu that depicted Chandrababu Naidu watching in a bitter mood the swearing in ceremony of YSR from a remote corner where a garbage bin and a dog were there.

When the cartoon was shown, YSR saw and nodded his head in disapproval of the message. He stayed silent for a minute and then said that it was not correct to portray a leader who has served as the chief minister for nine years. Raju said he then realized how much respect YSR was giving his old friend Chandrababu Naidu despite their serious political differences. It was also important to note that leaders who rendered services in public life should be given the credit due to them by virtue of the positions they served in.

A YCP MP recalling YSR-Naidu mutual respect was something that would give greater embarrassment to the YCP leaders. By continuing his statements on all current affairs, RRR is undoubtedly giving an increasingly tougher time to CM Jagan Reddy and his crisis managers.