YSRCP ‘rebel’ Lok Sabha MP Raghu Rama Krishna Raju is yet again. He continued his veiled attacks on the YSRCP leadership while at the same time claiming to be a loyal soldier of the party.
On Tuesday, Raju once again expressed displeasure that he could not get an appointment with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to discuss some policy issues. “The Chief Minister is a busy man. He has no time for lesser mortals like me,” he quipped.
On the one hand, he pours scorn in his sarcasm-laced remarks, while praising Jagan on the other. Giving full credit to his poll victory in Narsapuram constituency to Jagan Mohan Reddy, Raju remarked, “I give 90 per cent of the credit to Jagan and the party for me victory, and I take a mere 10 per cent credit. We win the elections with the image of our party leader, and not that of Chandrababu Naidu or Mayawati.”
Further, Raju stated that he will visit his Narasapuram constituency if Jagan directs him to do so. However, Raju reiterated that he can only visit the constituency only if central security cover is provided. “If security cover is provided, I will visit my constituency in the next 10 days. So far, security has not been provided. I have been receiving threats from my own party leaders. To top it, some YSRCP leaders are ignoring and isolating me. Under such circumstances, it will be difficult to visit my constituency without the central security protection,” he said.
Raju had been hobnobbing with several central BJP leaders. He had met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Home Kishan Reddy as well as Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to seek central police protection apprehending a threat to his life. He had apprised the BJP leaders that his own party leaders were threatening that he would be burnt to death if he visited his constituency.
He had recently dashed off a letter to LS Speaker Om Birla and complained about the alleged increasing attacks against him by his own partymen. He took up the issue with the Union Home Ministry.
He had also met President Ram Nath Kovid and explained in detail the current political environment in Andhra Pradesh. Raju had informed the President that his own party MLAs in Narasapuram constituency were staging protests by burning his effigies and threatening him for raising certain issues.
The YSRCP MP had not been seeing eye-to-eye with the government over its police. He had been vocal about the sand scarcity in AP following the flawed sand policy adopted by the Jagan government which has led to a steep spike in the price of sand thereby paralyzing the construction industry.
Raju had also strongly objected to the TTD’s move to sell some assets donated by the devotees. In an explosive admission on Times Now NewsHour debate on auctioning of temple assets by the TTD, Raju had admitted that Christian missionaries in Andhra Pradesh are pumping in large sums of money to carry out widespread religious conversions in the state.
