Controversial BJP leader and MP Subramanian Swamy today met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy at the latter's Tadepalli camp office. During the meeting, the two leaders reportedly discussed many political matters, including the Centre's decision to disinvest from the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
A visibly pleased Swamy said after the meeting, "I had a long association with Jagan's father, the late YSR. And, I am happy to have met Jagan today."
However, the BJP leader refused to comment explicitly on the Centre's decision to privatise the steel plant. He only expressed his displeasure at the Centre for privatising several public sector undertakings of the country, and said that such decisions needed to be taken after careful consideration and were warranted only by "strong" reasons.
Talking about the TTD, he urged the AP government to turn the temple body into an autonomous one. Swamy also welcomed the decision of the CM to audit the TTD's accounts saying, "The temple board should be transformed in such a manner that it should be run by devotees, and not by officials seeking to make profits."
Though Swamy is himself affiliated with the BJP, he has in the past defended Jagan many times against the allegations made by other leaders of the saffron party, that the CM pushes Christianity at the cost of Hinduism in the state. He even rubbished the claims of many politicians that the young CM had been orchestrating attacks on the temples in AP. He has maintained that he will not "tolerate" anybody's attempts to "cause rifts between the people through religion".
In recent times, the MP has been in the news after he filed a defamation suit of Rs 100 crore against a media house that had been "spreading false propaganda" against the TTD.