Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP head Chandrababu Naidu today accused the ruling YSR Congress Party of being afraid to hold the state's Panchayat elections, and lashed out at the regime for "violating constitutional mandates" by opposing the decisions of the State Election Commission (SEC).
Speaking at a virtual conference with his party's leaders, the former CM said, "The SEC is an autonomous constitutional body of the country. Failure to comply with the orders of the SEC is a violation of the Indian constitution, therefore. Such irrational decisions of Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy will destroy our state."
"It is shameful to see the way the ruling party has been behaving. It is scared of elections as it fears that it will lose badly in a fair contest," he added.
Naidu also urged the TDP leaders to lodge complaints with the concerned authorities if the state government indulged in any form of malpractice in the organisation and conduct of the elections.
"The district Collectors and SPs should forward any complaints to the SEC," he said.
Naidu had
lambasted the government for its reluctance to conduct the elections a few days ago as well.
He had said that the ruling party was scared of losing power, and so was trying to stay the elections on "flimsy" grounds.
The AP government has been locked in a tussle with the SEC regarding the conduct of the local body elections for the past few days now. It even filed a plea with the Supreme Court against the SEC's decision to conduct the elections amidst the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive. The Supreme Court however heard the matter today, and dismissed the government's plea.