Jagan’s Rushikonda palace stuns Naidu

Visakhapatnam : “I am shocked, surprised, and stunned that there could be a person like Jagan Mohan Reddy who does not care for any person, rule, or law of the country. His one-point programme is to loot the state.”

This was the reaction of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu after visiting the opulent Rs 450 crore ‘Rushikonda palace’ in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

CM Naidu said it was mindboggling to see a fan costing Rs 4 lakh, a commode costing Rs 12 lakh, a bathtub that cost Rs 36 lakh and a 200-tonne centralised AC system.

He said once again it has been proved right that he is Andhra Escobar. Naidu said he has decided to put all the pictures, videos, bills and related material in the publdomain.

Naidu said the administration will soon allow the public to visit this palace for a few days so that there can be a public debate on two issues. The punishment that should be given for the crime committed to destroying Rushikonda and splurging public money in constructing a palace consisting of seven blocks and to remind people that such “bhootalu” (demon) should never be allowed to raise its head again. He said if it was something like Faluknama Palace in Hyderabad, it could have been converted into a hotel but even that was not possible. It cannot be utilized for any official purpose as well.

He said he was shocked beyond imagination.

Even the White House may not have such lavish bathtubs or huge bathrooms which are equivalent to a two-bedroom flat and have attached massage rooms. It pained me to see how “criminals under the cover of politics can destroy everything including democracy”.

Expressing ire over Jagan’s selfish motives, the Chief Minister underlined the need to expose the former CM’s attitude. “Not even in my wildest dreams, I had ever imagined that political leaders could indulge in such lavishness,” he said.

The deeper you dig into the YSRCP’s closet, the more skeletons are coming out of it. He said the YSRCP government cheated the Central government and their agencies, NGT and courts by submitting false reports. He will have to face the consequences for constructing seven blocks on 61 acres.

Perhaps Jagan thought he would be ruling the state forever. This palace is a perfect case study of how anyone with a criminal mind can misuse public money and yet unashamedly call himself a mass leader and messiah of poor. The CM said the construction was mired in secrecy. Media, political leaders and even government officials were not allowed to come near the construction site. Japanese technology was used to prevent landslides and in the process, the place where sages sat on ‘Tapasya,’ was destroyed. He said law will take its own course now. There was no question of sparing anyone for splurging public money mindlessly.