YSR Congress Party today questioned the sanctity of the proposed padayatra of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu and said the exercise will be rejected by the people who are well aware of the his ‘antics’ during his nine year term as Chief Minister. Talking to media here, party spokesperson AmbatiRambabu said, ‘Trying to emulate YSR, Naidu has chalked out the Padayatra with the slogan- I am coming for you- which has a heavy political accent. He has no moral right to undertake the mass contact programme as all sections of people underwent serious hardships during his tenure.’ Dubbing Chandrababu Naidu as a ‘copycat’, he said, ‘When YSR won the 2004 elections with tie-up with TRS, CPI and CPM, Naidu did the same in 2009 but could not get a majority. He is trying to improvise the Padayatra of YSR but the difference lies in the approach itself.’ While YSR had mingled with the people and announced pro-farmer and pro-poor policies, Naidu had no premise for the mass contact programme as he ridiculed the free-power and other welfare schemes of YSR, he claimed Mr Naidu, who was the leader of Opposition for nine years and heads a Party which has 30-year standing, had gone down in the history of the State as a Chief Minister who had increased power tariff for seven to eight times and increased it by 100 per cent. RTC bus charges were hiked five to six times during his nine year term and gas price went up by cent per cent between 1999 and 2002, he alleged. “With such a past history, people will reject Naidu’s padayatra outright,” he claimed.
Of the 42 by-polls held after the death of YSR, TDP did not win a single seat and lost deposit in 25 constituencies besides conceding six seats, he said, adding Chandrababu Naidu should be more forthcoming about his policies during the padayatra. UNI