TDP chief condemns 'illegal' arrest of agitating employees

Vijayawada: TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday objected to the manner in which the Jagan Mohan Reddy government dealt with 'Chalo Vijayawada' agitation of the employees.

Naidu accused the ruling YSRCP of misusing the police machinery to make illegal arrests of the agitating employees as if they were terrorists. The Chief Minister should stop his autocratic policies and initiate efforts to provide an immediate solution, he said.

In a statement here, the former chief minister stressed on the need for responding on issues concerning lakhs of employees with 'thoughtfulness but not with arrogance'. The preventive arrests of employees all over the state were atrocious. No government acted in such a dictatorial manner against the protesting employees in the past.

He asked whether the employees had no right to express their dissent against the betrayal of the government with regard to the Pay Revision Commission (PRC). The peacefully protesting employees, teachers and associations leaders were arrested like terrorists.

Chandrababu Naidu said Chalo Vijayawada exposed how Jagan Mohan Reddy was targetting the employees with the same house arrests that were being used against the opposition leaders since the beginning. Detention of teachers with police patrol at schools was tantamount to insulting teachers in front of students.

The TDP chief advised the Chief Minister to realise that the employees would form an integral part of the government. The protests took a severe form because the government behaved in a humiliating manner towards employees in every issue.

Criticising the government's 'indifference', Naidu said Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power by betraying the people and employees. Now, he was using false figures to make the employees believe in his lies that their salaries were not reduced.

Naidu asked whether it was wrong on the part of the employees to demand fulfilment of promises made by Jagan to them in the past.

The Chief Minister owed an explanation to the employees' questions on his credibility. The TDP government gave 43 per cent fitment despite severe financial problems in the aftermath of bifurcation, he said.

Naidu said that for the first time in the country's history, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government gave a lesser fitment than interim relief and claimed recoveries from the salaries of employees. A pitiable situation arose where the employees started rejecting new PRC in favour of old salaries. It clearly exposed how the government had cheated the employees. Without further complicating matters, the CM should solve the problems of the employees urgently, he said.