N Chandrababu Naidu’s incarceration is not just about corruption or making political gains ahead of elections. For the YSRCP and state Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, it’s all about getting even with the TDP supremo than anything else.
Today, the ruling YSRCP ensured that the #KhaidiNo7691 trended on microblogging site ‘X’ since the morning after the TDP chief was lodged in Rajahmundry Central jail at 1 am following his remand in police custody by the Anti Corruption Bureau court in connection with the Skill development scam.
For years, TDP leaders, including N Chandrababu Naidu, taunted the YSRCP president and AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as ‘Khaidi 6093’ after he spent 16 months in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad between May 2012 and September 2013 in connection with the disproportionate assets case.
The CBI had accused the YSRCP chief of amassing crores of rupees by way of investments in the businesses run by him from individuals and firms in “quid pro quo” deals for the favours they received from him while his father YS Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 2004 till his death in 2009.
Jagan Mohan has always maintained that the several cases lodged against him were due to political vendetta by the Congress government for staking claim to his father’s legacy. However, even in the Assembly during TDP reign and during various political programmes, TDP leaders and Chandrababu Naidu himself took digs referring to him as “Khaidi 6093”.
In a public meeting in Amaravati on 1 January 2020, six months after Jagan was elected chief minister, Naidu asked the people to “Google Khaidi 6093” and wondered if they were ashamed of their leader.
Yesterday, while the TDP supremo was remanded to jail custody after the ACB court’s verdict, there were celebrations in the YSRCP camp, and minister Roja posted photographs of celebrating Naidu’s arrest at her residence.
Today morning, the YSRCP put up a flex purportedly of the TDP founder and legendary Telugu actor of yesteryear NT Rama Rao thanking Jagan for the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu who had tormented him by organising a coup in the party.
The flex also mentioned Rao’s son Harikrishna alleging that his death was used by Naidu for political gains. YSRCP leader Lakshmi Parvati, who was the second wife of NTR, visited NTR Ghat to pay homage to him saying he would now rest in peace.