Pulivendula witnessing change, says Payyavula Keshav

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Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav has said that people coming out openly to exercise their franchise in Pulivendula municipality indicate a change in the constituency, which had remained a stronghold of the Y.S. family for decades.

Addressing media persons here on Sunday, Mr. Keshav said elections to 92 urban local bodies across the State were held peacefully. However, YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy did not want people to exercise their franchise freely in Pulivendula and took out a rally soon after arriving there to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere, he alleged.

“He fears that his foundation will be shaken if people vote freely. When Mr. Jagan took out a rally, people questioned him for creating unrest in the municipality. He staged a protest along with his party’s polling agents. He also brought representatives of national media channels from Bengaluru and gave interviews to them,” Mr. Keshav said.

He described Mr. Jagan’s remarks on democracy and elections as laughable. During the previous YSRCP regime, the State Election Commissioner had to seek refuge in a neighbouring State, while an election official had to approach the court to secure a transfer, he alleged. In contrast, elections were being conducted in a peaceful atmosphere under the government led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, he said.

Mr. Keshav said Pulivendula was witnessing a change after nearly four decades of oppression. “People are set to teach Mr. Jagan a lesson again. The YSRCP is being wiped out, starting at the village level,” he said.

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