“Criminal litigant”: Naidu turns on Jagan with videos, a booklet and a set of numbers

The war of words over violence in the local body elections reached a new pitch on Saturday, 24 October. At a press conference in Amaravati, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu called former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy a “criminal litigant” and said he had never seen such criminals in politics. The YSRCP, he said, stages attacks and then claims to be the victim. Flying in from Bengaluru, holding a press conference, making allegations and leaving was, in his phrase, “hit-and-run” politics.

He did not stop at words. He played video clips of what he described as violent incidents and released a booklet titled “The Same Violence… The Same Lies… The Same Atrocities”. To the charge that nominations were blocked, he answered with numbers: 51,902 nominations for 9,829 MPTC seats and 5,724 for 659 ZPTC seats across 28 districts. Police, he said, had escorted YSRCP candidates to file their papers, and the party had still gone to court with one petition after another.

Then he reached back. Under the YSRCP, he said, 24 per cent of local seats were won unopposed, all 33 in Pulivendula went uncontested, and in Kadapa 79 per cent of MPTC and 76 per cent of ZPTC seats had no contest at all. The State Election Commissioner of the day, he reminded the room, had asked for central forces.

The personal turn

The last part of the press conference went beyond the election. CBI and ED cases, a family property dispute, a comparison with Kamsa from the epics, and a verdict: “He has failed in every capacity, as a chief minister, a party leader, a son, an elder brother and even as a citizen.” The NDA, he said, took 57 per cent of the vote and a 94 per cent strike rate in 2024 and has drawn investment proposals worth Rs 22 lakh crore. Continued disruption, he warned, would stall that.

The YSRCP has not answered the “criminal litigant” label directly. Its own charge is older and no softer: that the TDP government is undermining democracy in collusion with the police and the State Election Commission. On Friday, 23 October, Jagan accused the election machinery of bias and forgery.

Our view: there are allegations on both sides and a ruling from no one. The Chief Minister’s videos and the opposition’s videos are both in front of the voter. Checking them is the job of the Election Commission and the police. If that does not happen before polling on 3 November, these press conferences are campaign events, nothing more.