Botcha hits out at Oppn for creating 'ruckus' on GO No 1

Vijayawada: Minister for education Botcha Satyanarayana took strong exception to the Opposition parties' remarks on GO No 1 and suggested that they study the content in the order before making further comments.

Addressing the media here on Saturday, the minister said that TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu and the media supporting him are unnecessarily creating a ruckus over the GO meant to regulate public gatherings to safeguard people. It does not restrain rallies and meetings and addresses the disadvantages of conducting rallies and meetings on roads and highways.

Explaining the reasons for issuing the GO, he blamed Naidu's self promotion' mission for the stampede deaths at Kandukuru and Guntur, besides injuries.

"To protect the public interests, the state government issued orders to safeguard the lives of people and prevent recurrence of unfortunate incidents. An inquiry was ordered by the government to find the lapses during the recent meetings of the TDP chief," he said, adding that it was not prudent on the part of Naidu to blame YSRCP for the unfortunate incidents.

He also took a dig at former chief minister for allegedly violating the orders during his recent visit to Kuppam. Instead, he should tender an open apology to the public and own the responsibility for the stampede deaths, he said, adding that Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan will only express the ideology of Naidu, ignoring the public interests.

Referring to the padayatras of former Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said they conducted padayatras in a systematic manner after taking approvals from the police and without causing any inconvenience to public. Reacting to the proposed padayatra of TDP leader Nara Lokesh named 'Yuvagalam' he maintained that Lokesh who had no achievements to claim during his stint as a minister has no credibility to conduct a padayatra.