TDP defends demolition of YSR Congress Party’s office: ‘Was being built illegally’.

The YSRCP office in Guntur district’s Tadepalli was being built on the Irrigation Department’s land without the department’s permission, TDP said. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Saturday said that the under-construction office of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) at Tadepalli in Guntur district was demolished as it was being built ‘illegally’ on the Irrigation Department’s land. The action was taken based on a complaint by a TDP leader, according to the N Chandrababu Naidu-led ruling party. “The complaint was lodged with the municipal commissioners of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) and Mangalgiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation (MTMC) that the opposition party’s office was being built illegally on two acres of the Irrigation Department’s land,” a TDP press release stated. “Following this, the demolition of these illegal constructions of the YSRCP leaders has been launched under the supervision of the MTMC officials,” it added. The statement also alleged that YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, a former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, had ‘misused’ his power as CM to allot the land for the construction of his party’s office. “Jagan Mohan Reddy had planned to occupy the neighbouring 15 acres by building the office in these two acres. It is now clarified that the Irrigation Department has not given the clearance to hand over these two acres to the YSRCP,” the TDP claimed. Meanwhile, reacting to the demolition, carried out earlier in the day, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy accused chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of ‘taking vendetta politics to the next level’ and ‘acting like a dictator.’ The YSCRP also accused the TDP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government off carrying out the demolition despite the high court’s order asking the government to halt the exercise.