Opposition parties accuse YSRCP of abuse of Centre's Covid-19 funds for poll gains

The Opposition Telugu Desam Party and the BJP in Andhra Pradesh have accused the ruling YSR Congress Party of abusing the central funds released to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and distributing them through its candidates contesting in the local body elections for political gains. The TDP, BJP and CPI have appealed to the state election commission (SEC) and the governor to intervene and initiate action, including disqualifying the ruling party candidates resorting to this unlawful act.

On Monday afternoon, TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu termed it a violation of not just the Code of Conduct by the ruling YSRCP candidates but also of social-distancing norms by the ruling party members who were going in groups and organising meetings. A team of Opposition leaders met Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan with a memorandum, seeking his immediate intervention. The leaders sought the governor’s immediate intervention not just to 'ensure safety of public health' in fighting the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to 'uphold the spirit of democracy.'

In the memorandum, leader of the Opposition in the AP Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu submitted that the Rs 1,000 cash support and free rice supplies to the poorer sections declared by the government were being distributed through YSRCP candidates. The TDP said instead of the government giving the cash, the local YSRCP leaders and the party candidates for the postponed local body elections were distributing it.


CPI’s AP secretary K Ramakrishna sought the intervention of the state election commissioner N Ramesh Kumar and demanded that criminal cases be slapped against the ruling YSRCP candidates. BJP’s state vice-president Vishnuvardhan Reddy, too, accused the YSRCP leaders of aiding the spread of the coronavirus by violating social-distancing norms.