Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national general secretary and IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has sought a report on the expenditure incurred by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government on the lavish buildings constructed atop the Rushikonda hillock in Visakhapatnam.
The constructions atop the hillock have been the subject of much controversy. While the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has claimed that they were meant to be used as a tourism resort and a camp office for the Chief Minister, the TDP, JSP and BJP have rejected the claims and stated that the palatial structures were meant to serve as a residence for Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mr. Lokesh said that the report would be made public, adding that Mr. Naidu would also inquire into the environmental norms that were flouted in the construction of the structures.
Speaking to the media while participating in Bakrid celebrations at Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Monday, Mr. Lokesh said the full details of the structures, including the cost that went into their construction, would come out soon. He suggested that appropriate action would be taken in due course.
Law and order
Mr. Lokesh said three TDP workers were killed by miscreants who purportedly had links to the YSRCP after the new government was formed. “The TDP activists are maintaining restraint only because the Chief Minister has instructed them to not take the law into their hands,” Mr. Lokesh said.
He said the government has set itself a timeframe of curbing the ganja menace within 100 days, as per a commitment given by the NDA before the elections, and said Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha and Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Kumar Gupta were already on the job.
Mr. Lokesh said he was directly meeting people as part of his efforts to redress their grievances, as the government should be accessible to them to the fullest extent possible.
