Midterm polls in the offing for AP?

Vijayawada Minister for Information and Public Relations Chelluboyina Venu Gopala Krishna on Wednesday said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed them to be more active in implementation of various welfare measures and stay in touch with the electorate by playing an active role in party activities.

He said after the Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister told them specifically to be very active in the party as well as government activities. Asked whether it was an indication that they are getting ready to advance the Assembly elections due in next nine months, the Minister evaded the query saying only TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu as well as his 'adopted son' Jana Sena Party president K Pawan Kalyan are, talking about early polls.

He accused Chandrababu Naidu of running away from Hyderabad overnight and setting up a temporary capital at Amaravati due to exposure of 'vote for note' scam despite the Parliament's decision to continue Hyderabad as the joint capital for 10 years.

Coming down heavily on Pawan Kalyan's jibe at the government over the role of volunteers, the Minister said less he spoke about the revolutionary system introduced by the Chief Minister is better. He said when people have accepted 2.70 volunteers as the representatives of the government to redress their grievances, the actor-turned politician at the behest of a script prepared by Naidu is seeking abrogation of the volunteer system accusing them of collecting information leading to disappearance of 29,000 young girls.

Dismissing his claim as 'travesty of truth,' he said as per their information, 1400 girls are missing. He said the claim that Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials informed him is absurd and said now in a desperate bid to gain some mileage, he is focusing on two Godavari districts (undivided), where the community belonging to him has good strength.

He alleged that when Naidu demitted office, he left with a debt burden of Rs 4.73 lakh crore. He said Jagan Mohan Reddy through Navaratna and other welfare schemes has become close to the people and the Opposition parties are unable to stomach the growing popularity of YSRCP.