YSRCP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday dared N Chandrababu Naidu to walk out of the NDA alliance as the BJP allegedly wants to cancel four percent reservation for Muslims in the state.
The Chief Minister issued this challenge at Nellore in the eponymous district during a public meeting as part of his intense election campaign tour across the state, calling on the TDP chief to fight for the minorities’ rights.
“Four percent reservation given to minorities is not based on religion but on par with social justice practices. We are taking steps to eradicate poverty and improve the lives of the poor, but Chandrababu’s politics is akin to that of a chameleon,” said Reddy.
According to the CM, the opposition leader wants to continue TDP’s alliance with the saffron party, which allegedly wants to do away with the reservation for Muslims, but is “playing a drama in front of the minorities to garner their votes”.
Further, Reddy exhorted that he is giving his word to support and fight for the rights of Muslims’ reservation and also on issues such as the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and any issue related to them.
“Their interests will be secured and supported by YSRCP. Can Chandrababu dare to say the same thing to Modi and walk out of the NDA to fight for Muslims,” he quizzed.
Earlier at Hindupur in Sri Satyasai district, he alleged that Naidu was playing “dirty politics” over the Land Titling Act.
“They are selling fake propaganda in the election campaign and sending IVRS calls to people saying that ‘Jagan will grab all your lands.’ We give lands to the poor, not grab from them,” he added.
He said the TDP leader had no idea about the Act, which “will provide full rights to farmers on the land”, calling it a major reform for saving people from running from pillar to post to procure their assets’ details.
Noting that the last land survey was done a century ago in the southern state, the CM said the YSRCP government is carrying out another survey to properly perch boundary stones and update records with proper sub-divisions.
Backed by the new survey, Reddy said the government will “guarantee” that there would be no disputes on the surveyed lands.
Further, he noted that 6,000 revenue villages out of 17,000 have been surveyed so far, promising to complete the remainder too, and added that every farmer should have a proper record for his land.
Elections for the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13 and counting of votes will be on June 4.