00:00Why are Andhra Pradesh's local polls then so violence prone?
00:03Who is behind the attack on journalists including the India Today crew?
00:07Will there be any action at all or will the FIR be buried?
00:10Joining me now for quick reactions, Karthik Yelapragad.
00:13He's YSRCP's national spokesperson.
00:16Deepak Reddy, Gunapati, TDP's national spokesperson.
00:19I've got you both here because this is an extremely serious issue, Mr. Gunapati.
00:24We've seen repeated instances of violence during this campaign.
00:28There have been allegations that people have been stopped from filing nomination.
00:32The dates had to be postponed because of court intervention.
00:35Now we are seeing these attacks on journalists that took place over the weekend.
00:38TDP is in power. How can you blame the YSRCP?
00:42They are not in power anymore. The buck must stop with you, Mr. Gunapati.
00:49Rajdeep, truth is a very big casualty when it comes to the YSR party in Andhra Pradesh.
00:54So I need a minute to lay down certain facts so that people get clarity.
01:00First of all, we strongly condemn the attack on the journalist.
01:05And TDP really doesn't approve of something like this.
01:10I'm actually in Kadapa and I'm a coordinator of Kadapa elections for our party.
01:15In fact, Mr. Bashir called me in the morning and said, I need a bite from you.
01:19Oh, I'm going to Puliwandala. On the way back, I'm going to get a bite from you.
01:23And then he calls me after a couple of hours saying that he was brutally attacked.
01:26Immediately, we sprung into action.
01:29We complained to the SP and we told our local people to immediately go for a rescue.
01:33So this is what exactly happened on the ground.
01:36What I would like to point out here is there are more than 100 ULBs which went for election.
01:40And national media was invited to a remote place, which is Jaganmohan Reddy's constituency.
01:47And that is where the conspiracy is on.
01:50And I want to put a few facts on record.
01:53Three out of the seven ULBs which went for repolling are in Jagan's district.
01:59Eight out of 13 polling stations which went for repolling are in Jagan's district, which is 61.5%.
02:05And four out of 13 repolling are in Jagan's own constituency.
02:10So you can see a clear trend.
02:13The violence has happened predominantly in Jagan's own constituency and Jagan's own district.
02:18And that's where the repolling has taken place.
02:21And now you can question why this is happening.
02:25Sir, I've heard you patiently.
02:27Sir, I've heard you patiently.
02:30Will you concede?
02:31Sir, the buck must stop with you because law and order is under you.
02:34You see, that's exactly what I'm saying.
02:36So let me put these facts on record.
02:41Why is this happening?
02:42It is because Jaganmohan Reddy has a fear of losing his home turf.
02:47And that is where the whole conspiracy was set.
02:50A few days before, he came to Puliwendala, his constituency.
02:53And on air, he had a public meeting.
02:55And he said, I'm going to fold my sleeves and come back on the polling date.
02:59And he warned of violence.
03:01So three or four days, they have done meticulous planning.
03:05They have gathered people and they have pre-planned this entire violence.
03:09Because if his home turf is lost, he knows that the party is going to collapse.
03:17Okay, I've heard you now.
03:17So this was a desperate move, Rajdeep, from him.
03:20And I would like to put a few facts and I'll close the statement.
03:22No, I've heard you, sir.
03:23I've heard you now patiently.
03:25There's somebody else on the floor.
03:26I've heard you.
03:27You've said this is a pre-planned conspiracy of Jaganmohan Reddy to incite violence in his own home base.
03:33And then put the blame on the TDP.
03:35That's the charge that you're principally making.
03:38I want you, Karthik, to respond to what you're hearing from the TDP.
03:41They're saying all these visuals are actually of YSRCP people in their bastion, targeting journalists and others and then putting
03:49the blame on the TDP.
03:51Hey, Rajdeep, thanks for having me in the show.
03:53So look at the audacity of these gentlemen, the way they're speaking.
03:56Now, to open with, if Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy were to have to incite the violence, at a blink of an
04:02eye, the whole state would have been turned into a bloodbath.
04:05But rather, he's chosen in a democratic way, the way he's spoken as a statesman to the polling booth officers
04:11and the POs, actually a self-explanatory out there on record.
04:15But here, you have to allow me, Rajdeep, to lay down certain chronological order of facts.
04:20This is a party-based election in the state.
04:24If we want to actually go on into nominations and want to go into election, all what we're saying is
04:31allow us to have a free and fair election as part of the simple democratic process.
04:36Now, in this process, what has happened is, Rajdeep, even at a nomination level, the people were rigged.
04:42We haven't seen in the history of the state, did you ever see a Supreme Court intervening these many times
04:48for local body elections in any state?
04:51Why it's only in Andhra Pradesh?
04:52Now, expose the real face of Mr. Naidu today.
04:55Look at this, you know, the rigging of nominations.
04:58On top of that, there comes a scrutiny of the process, right?
05:01The nominations were rigged.
05:03Even then, if they were made to the scrutiny in the process, in that scrutiny, the whole process were actually
05:09done in a backdoor.
05:10It was stamps were removed, papers were torn apart, people were beaten.
05:14Even the police force and the police missionary in the state is actually working in the guise of Mr. Naidu
05:19and Mr. Locate, and that's completely nonsensical.
05:21They claim you did exactly, you know, I've heard TDP people telling me you all did much worse when you
05:26all were in power.
05:27You see, the problem is this has become a state of tit-for-tat politics.
05:59That's not the fact, Razdeep. Allow me.
06:00That's not the percentage of the election.
06:02Sir, you lost, sir, sir, sir, sir.
06:04You lost the elections then in 20.
06:06Let's not go back in time.
06:07I want to know, the charge which is being made is that the people in Pullendaloo were people associated with
06:14your party who did this and to put the blame on TDP.
06:18That's absolute nonsensical.
06:20The whole machinery is in their hands.
06:22FIIs, let them register the FIIs.
06:23Let the due cross process kick in.
06:26What's stopping them to actually probe it?
06:28If it were our people, you know, just think logical, Mr. Rajdeep.
06:32If it were our people, would TDP, no, this gentleman would have to allow me.
06:36Why was the crew invited to a remote place?
06:40All of this has to be done through a fair.
06:42We have filed an FIIR.
06:43I want to tell our viewers very clearly.
06:46You know, before we get into it, we have filed an FIIR.
06:48We were asked to do so.
06:50We expect a free and fair inquiry from the Andhra Pradesh government.
06:53We expect the culprits to be identified.
06:55They are available on camera.
06:57They are not some mysterious people.
06:58They need to be identified.
07:00If they are associated with a political party or not, they need to be identified and held accountable.
07:05What has happened is unacceptable.
07:07It has happened this time in Andhra.
07:09It could happen tomorrow in another part of the country.
07:11Civic body polls in this country are becoming increasingly violent.
07:14I have to stop it there.
07:16We will, because we've run out of time.
07:18But I appreciate both of you joining us.
07:20I've given you a chance to raise the facts from both points of view.
07:23Thank you both very much for joining us.
