Anantapur: The Supreme Court’s verdict in the arrest case of senior journalist Kommineni Srinivasa Rao is a clear slap on Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s face, said YSRCP Anantapur district president Anantha Venkatarami Reddy.

He stated that the Supreme Court bench questioned how a case could be filed against Kommineni just for comments made by a panelist during a Sakshi TV debate.

“This verdict is a strong step toward safeguarding democracy,” he said. He alleged that despite senior journalist Kommineni and the Sakshi media having no connection to the comments made by political analyst Krishnamraju during a recent debate, TDP leaders launched a statewide campaign of unrest, falsely implicating them. At the same time, he accused them of spreading malicious propaganda against former CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his wife Bharath. Reddy further condemned the orchestrated attacks on Sakshi media offices across the state, demanding the immediate arrest of those involved. He criticized the coalition government for governing like a dictatorship for the past year, using illegal arrests and false cases to suppress opposition. The Supreme Court’s observations clearly reveal that basic legal norms were not followed in Kommineni’s arrest, he added. Calling the state’s ongoing governance a “Red Book regime,” Reddy asserted that the Court’s ruling exposes the arrest as unlawful and undemocratic.

He said the Supreme Court’s remarks reflect the deteriorating state of democracy in Andhra Pradesh, and demanded that the coalition government start upholding the Ambedkar Constitution in spirit and practice.