How did the private firm that developed the TDP's App: Jagan

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has no moral right to continue in office in the wake of alleged transfer of sensitive information of individuals in the State to private firms, YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said.

Sounding the poll bugle here on Tuesday at the party’s ‘Samarasankharavam’, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy questioned, “Is such a person fit to hold high office?” And the gathering of party workers responded saying “no.” Instead of taking corrective steps after tendering an apology for allegedly breaching the trust reposed by the people, the TDP was raising questions over the probe being conducted into the issue by the Telangana police, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said. “How did the private firm that developed the TDP’s App, Seva Mitra, gain access to the information? Is data theft not a crime? Shouldn’t the Chief Minister be punished?” he questioned. The TDP had no right to misuse the data available with the government to further its electoral prospects, he asserted.

“Data has been misused to remove the names of YSRCP sympathisers from the electoral rolls and include the names of ineligible persons. My uncle Vivekananda Reddy is also a victim. He had to seek re-inclusion of his name in the electoral rolls,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.

Asking the party workers to be wary of such machinations, he said, “Every vote matters as the party lost by five lakh votes in 2014.”

Winning all the 25 Lok Sabha seats was sine qua non for the party if the State were to achieve Special Category Status and speedy industrialisation, he said.

The Congress, the BJP, the TDP and the JSP were equally responsible for the State not getting SCS. While the Congress ditched by not including SCS in the Reorganisation Act, the BJP and the TDP betrayed the people after promising it in the run-up to the 2014 elections. The JSP, which had promised to stand guarantee, too cheated the people, he alleged.

Stating that local youth were not getting placements in the industries being set up in the State, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the YSRCP, if voted to power, would enact legislation that made it mandatory to earmark 75% of jobs for local youth not only in the units in operation but also in those to be be set up in future.

Village Secretariat would be set up to ensure the benefits of welfare schemes reached the beneficiaries without they having to grease the palms of the government staff, he said. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said 2.50 lakh vacancies in various government departments would be filled on coming to power.

He asked the party workers to explain people about the ‘Navaratnalu’ scheme.

“If voted to power, the YSRCP government will write off the debts of all DWACRA women in four phases,” he said.