Despite several chinks in his armour, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy emerged as the third best performing CM in the country.
A bi-annual ‘Mood of the Nation’ survey conducted by the India Today Group in coordination with Karvy Insights had adjudged Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath as the best performing CM for the third time in a row.
While Yogi Adityanath stood in the first place, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart clinched second and third places. With 24 per cent votes, 48-year-old Adityanath was way ahead of Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Jaganmohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), who secured 15 and 11 per cent votes respectively. Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao stood in the ninth place with a mere three percent polling.
India Today Group has interests in magazines, newspapers, books, radio, television, printing and the Internet. Karvy Insights is a part of Karvy Group, much of its revenues come from Karvy Stock Broking Limited which was recently in news for the biggest stock market scam. Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) prima facie found that Karvy Stock Broking Limited (KSBL) had pledged the securities of its clients — without any consent — to raise more than Rs 2,500 crore for its operations.
Reacting to the survey results, former Telugu Desam Party minister Ayyanna Patrudu remarked rather tongue-in-cheek that Jagan Mohan Reddy should have been named as the best chief minister. “I was surprised that Jagan stood in the third place. He should have been in the first place. He is numero uno in everything. He ranks first among the corrupt. In Corona, he has successfully put AP in the first ranking in highest single-day spikes. He comes first in corruption, land dealings, sand mafia. He comes first in slapping false cases and arresting opposition leaders. After becoming CM, AP ranks first in atrocities against Dalits and women in the last one year of governance. The survey has gone totally wrong in ranking Jagan as third best performing CM,” he stated in a sarcastic remark.
Ayyanna Patrudu was booked under the Nirbhaya Act. Narsipatnam municipal Commissioner Krishnaveni had filed a case against Ayyanna Patrudu when the TDP leader questioned why his grandfather Latcha Patrudu’s photo was removed from the municipal office. Krishnaveni had accused Ayyanna Patrudu of making objectionable comments against her and filed a police case against him. Ayyanna Patrudu was booked under Sections 354-A (4), 500, 504, 5050 (1) (B), 505 (2), 506 and 509 under the Nirbhaya Act. On his part, Ayyanna Patrudu moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court contending that the Jagan government was acting out of political vendetta by foisting false cases against him. He had urged the High Court to dismiss the cases filed against him. The High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Ayyanna Patrudu.
