Jagan Cancels Tirupati Meeting Due To Pandemic

As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to climb in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today cancelled his Tirupati by-election meeting that was scheduled for April 14.

In an open letter to the voters of the region, he pointed out that on Friday alone, the state had recorded 2,765 new cases and that out of those, 496 were recorded in Chittoor and 296 in Nellore (both districts fall under the Tirupati constituency). He added that 24 people had also succumbed to the disease recently out of which four were natives of Chittoor.

Reiterating his reasons for not attending the meeting, the CM wrote, "If I do attend the meeting on April 14, I am sure thousands of people will come to attend the same. But, as a responsible Chief Minister, public health, happiness and safety are of utmost importance to me. This is why I am cancelling my trip. To make up for this, I have already addressed letters to every family in the constituency informing them of the benefits extended to them by our government in the past 22 months of our rule."

Jagan then encouraged the voters to support the YSRCP's candidate for the seat, Dr Gurumoorthy, in the upcoming election.

One wonders whether the letter will indeed help the party's prospects especially after former AP CM and TDP head Chandrababu Naidu once again raked up the matter of the state's ongoing tussle to achieve Special Category Status.

Speaking at an election rally held to mobilise support for Panabaka Lakshmi ahead of the April 17 election, Naidu flayed the Jagan regime for its failure to get the special status accorded to the state even after two years in power.