NAIDU HAILS SEC DECISION TO CANCEL POLL

Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu hailed the SEC’s decision to defer local body elections.

Addressing mediapersons here on Sunday, he said the decision was right as the Union government already declared

COVID-19 as a notified disaster. He objected to the threats by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. “SEC is an independent constitutional body and Mr Jagan has no right to question its decisions.”

Mr Naidu dismissed the claim of Mr Jagan that he appointed Mr Ramesh Kumar during his tenure as CM in

2016. He maintained that he had suggested Mr C.R. Biswas’s name for appointment as SEC, but the then Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan had picked Ramesh Kumar for the post. The former CM alleged that Jagan levelled baseless allegations against him and attributed everything to a particular caste in his quest to gain political mileage.

Mr Naidu said that Covid-19 turned a global disaster and forced cancellation of the local elections in London, US earmarked `3.50 lakh crore to fight the virus and all schools, colleges, offices and shops except medical stores were closed in China, Italy and other countries. He objected to the statement of CM Jagan claiming there was no coronavirus effect in the state. “Any state can ignore Covid-19 threat at the risk of causing a huge damage to the country,” he observed. “Is election politics more important to the CM than the lives of the public in this situation,” he wondered.

HE OBJECTED to the Andhra Pradesh CM’s claim that there was no impact of coronavirus on the state