Alleged violation of lockdown rules by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu while returning from Hyderabad after more than two months, sparked a row with the leaders of ruling YSR Congress Party demanding that he be sent to quarantine.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, who was ‘stranded’ in Hyderabad since the lockdown began in March, reached his residence in Amaravati by road on Monday to a warm welcome by the party leaders and workers.

Earlier at Vijayawada, the leader of the opposition stopped his convoy to wave at a large number of party activists and followers who jostled to greet him.

YSRCP leaders alleged that Naidu violated the lockdown norms as social distancing was not maintained and the people who greeted him were not even wearing masks. Some went to the extent of demanding that he be sent to quarantine for 14 days.

“Since he came from a red zone area and crossed over from another state, he should be quarantined,” said YSRCP leader G. Srikant Reddy.

A YSRCP leader from Kadapa sought action against Naidu for deliberately violating Covid-19 lockdown rules and also Epidemic Diseases Act and Communicable Diseases, Prevention and Control Act, 1988.

In a letter to Director General of Police Gautam Sawang, the ruling party leader said Naidu’s followers gathered around his convoy without maintaining physical distance and without wearing masks.

The leaders of the ruling party and the main opposition have been indulging in political slugfest over Naidu’s stay in Hyderabad. YSRCP leaders had taunted him for maintaining ‘social distancing’ by staying 300 km away from the state. They also slammed him for what they call playing politics over the pandemic by addressing press conferences over zoom app from his residence in Hyderabad.

YSRCP leader Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said nobody had stopped the TDP chief from returning to the state but he preferred to remain in Hyderabad and when he finally returned he violated all lockdown norms.

There was also a row before Naidu’s return to Amaravati. It was on May 24 that the DGP had permitted him to return to the state.

The TDP had even announced that Naidu would leave for Visakhapatnam on May 25 to console the families of the 12 people who died due to gas leak from LG Polymers on May 7. The party announced that he will leave for Vizag by a flight from Hyderabad at 10 a.m.

However, he could not go to Visakhapatnam as the flight was cancelled following the decision by Andhra Pradesh government to allow resumption of domestic flight services from May 26.

TDP leader K. Atchan Naidu alleged that the flight resumption was deliberately postponed by the Jagan Mohan government to stop the TDP chief from visiting Visakhapatnam. “The government did this under a conspiracy to prevent him from going to Vizag,” he said and claimed that Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s tweet that the resumption of flights from Vizag and Vijayawada was postponed at the request of the state government was a proof of the conspiracy.

YSRCP leaders wondered how the government can be blamed if the flight to Vizag was cancelled. “He could have gone to Vizag by road instead of coming to Amaravati,” said Ramakrishna Reddy.

TDP’s senior leader and former minister Devineni Uma claimed that Chandrababu Naidu honoured all lockdown norms to seek permission to visit Visakhapatnam to call on the people affected by gas leak. “Why is the government afraid of his visit,” he asked.

The former minister said Chandrababu Naidu would soon visit Vizag to meet gas victims. “Whenever he goes to Vizag, it is bound to create tremors for YSR Congress Party leaders,” he added.

Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has accused the Jaganmohan Reddy Government of politically harassing all Opposition leaders and even victims of Visakhapatnam gas disaster instead of fulfilling its responsibility to solve their problems. The TDP chief termed it as inhuman on the part of the Government to file a false case against a mother whose only offence was her emotional appeal for the return of her daughter who perished in the toxic fumes. He demanded immediate and unconditional withdrawal of false cases filed against the Opposition leaders and victims of gas tragedy.

Mr. Naidu held a video conference with the party people’s representatives and constituency incharges here when he explained how the ruling party proved its inefficiency by creating new problems instead of solving existing crisis situations. While the poor people were expecting relief in view of their loss of work opportunities and daily earnings, they were being placed under increased burdens. The Government should have focused on saving people from Coronavirus lockdown rather than hiking current charges manifold.

Mr. Chandrababu Naidu asserted that unable to solve people’s problems, the YSRCP leaders were resorting to irrational counter allegations against the rival parties only to escape from their accountability. The Government was playing with the lives of people by crippling them financially on the one side and by pushing them into greater health risks on the other.

The TDP leaders, who took part in the conference, condemned the filing of false cases against a woman and her husband whose daughter died due to poisonous gas. Unfortunately, counter cases were being filed against victims while the company management escaped with minor cases with bailable sections. The Chief Minister acted favourably towards LG Polymers by speaking to its executives in airport lounge, announcing Rs 1 Cr compensation, commending it as a multinational company and offering jobs to victims families. How can the CM offer jobs when the affected residents were demanding closure of the factory?

Referring to the YSRCP criticism, some TDP leaders said that a misinformation campaign was launched to make people believe that earlier TDP Government allotted land for LG Polymers. It was a total lie since the existing company land was allotted to Hindustan Polymers way back in 1964 by the then Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Government through GO 2,177 at that time. Relaxations from urban land ceiling were given in 1992 through GO 1033. The TDP Government acted only at the suggestions of High Court but YSRCP was spreading lies against TDP.

The TDP said that permissions for polystyrene and expandable polystyrene were given only after YSRCP came to power and the same was recommended for Centre’s approvals. However, the ruling party leaders were twisting these facts and spreading rumours that TDP gave those permissions. YSRCP’s bankruptcy was clear how it was linking permission given for plastics production with polystyrene. Unfortunately, Ministers were still talking as if environment was not polluted in villages while scientists were saying that crops were damaged and trees changed colours and their samples were sent to labs for assessing extent of damage. Local people were still complaining of skin burning and respiratory distress but the Ministers were talking as if all have recovered and returning home.

Some TDP leaders pointed out that MP Vijayasai Reddy used to hang around Visakhapatnam interfering with its day to day administration all the time but he went into a hideout not to be seen in port city since gas leak. The Government should clarify whether LG Polymers have any transactions with Bharati Polymers and Nandini Polymers. What are relations between Vijayasai Reddy and LG Polymers Director Ravindranath Reddy? Reports say that LG factory was hurriedly opened despite lockdown only to supply pet bottles for distilleries of YSRCP leaders.

Demanding closure of the polymers factory at Venkatapuram, TDP leaders said its land should be developed into a garden park to restore unpolluted environment there. They further said that complaints were given to the Central team officials on how the official machinery in Guntur district prevented the opposition leaders from making their representation to the team on Coronavirus issues.

The TDP leaders expressed their solidarity to ‘Save Mangrove’ campaign of students in protest against destruction of mangrove forests which were being developed as the first shelter bed along the coast from Srikakulam to Godavari districts since 1996 super cyclone. The mangroves were badly required to prevent coastal erosion. Eucalyptus trees being developed as a second shelter bed in coastal areas should be also be protected.

While the entire world is focusing on the steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Andhra Pradesh government was endangering the lives of people of Andhra Pradesh with its flawed polices, commented TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday.

Addressing a press briefing in Hyderabad, Mr Naidu questioned the wisdom of the Jagan government in allowing liquor sales at a time when Andhra Pradesh was witnessing a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases. AP reported 67 new cases on Tuesday taking the tally to 1,717.

Mr Naidu said the government was more worried about losing liquor money, but not concerned about the public health safety. Allowing liquor sale during the ongoing nationwide lockdown has caused unmanageable over-crowding at liquor stores, making social distancing impossible and defeating the very purpose of a lockdown. “Huge crowds completely broke lockdown norms. There was an open violation of social distancing. Has the government lost its sense? On the one hand, the government propagates social distancing norm and on the other it allows people to break the rule. The government’s decision led to utter chaos and confusion. Where was the urgency for the Jagan government to allow liqour sales at a time the corona positive cases in the state are surging every day? People from other states have come to AP to purchase liquor. Why couldn’t the government wait for some more days,” he questioned. Further, he said it was unfortunate that the government had employed school teachers to regulate the long queues outside the wine shops. “This government has stooped low by employing school teachers to regulate the queues outside the wine shops. What message is the government sending? Is this how you respect teachers who shape future generations,” Mr Naidu asked.

On Monday, lakhs of people jostled for alcohol, triggering chaos, police action, and fear of Covid-19 spread as booze shops opened after more than 40 days in green and orange zones.

“Andhra Pradesh is already battling the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now confronted with the deadly alcohol crisis in the midst of surging positive cases of corona virus and deaths due to the pandemic. Liquor sales have triggered acts of violence, spate of suicides and alcohol driven mishaps across the state,” he said. The opening of liquor stores has led to further aggression and violence against women at home, he said while citing an incident in Chittoor’s Palamneru. “A man who heavily consumed liquor thrashed his wife and daughter. Unable to bear the domestic violence, mother and daughter duo committed suicide by hanging themselves.” The incident occurred on Monday when Chokkalingam in a drunken state beat up his wife and daughter who committed suicide unable to bear the humiliation. Mr Naidu also cited several other incidents of violence triggered after consumption of liquor.

The former CM also questioned the government’s decision to hike liquor prices by 75% to mop up Rs 9,000 crore revenues. Mr Naidu said the move causes additional burden on the people who are already affected the lockdown. “People have lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. Now, people will spend their last penny on liquor. The government’s logic of hiking the prices is to discourage people from drinking. Is this how the government intends to discourage people from drinking? The government needs to find more permanent solutions. First, it should drastically reduce the availability of liquor. It should also sensitize people on the ill-effects of alcohol. The government has not done any of these. Instead, the government had sold substandard and cheap liquor endangering the lives of the people,” he said.

The Andhra Pradesh government rather than solving the problems of the farmers and migrant workers was more worried about those into liquor trade, Mr Naidu said while asking if the government was working for welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh or is it working for profiteering of liquor distillery owners and alcohol sellers. “The government had asked the farmers not to come to market yards to sell produce stating that it would directly procure from their doorstep. What kind of logic is this? You disallow farmers from selling produce in market yards and allow liquor stores from 11 am to 7 pm. Further, the state government said will procure the entire produce of the farmers, but their produce has remained unsold at most places in the state,” he said while pointing out that several farmers had to end their lives as they incurred loss since they could not sell their produce due to the lockdown curbs.