NEW DELHI, FEB. 2. Andhra Pradesh politics today reached the Capital with the opposition Telugu Desam Party demanding the dismissal of the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, alleging breakdown of law and order in the State and a judicial probe into the murders of 44 TDP workers, including the party MLA, Paritala Ravi.
Leading a delegation, the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, submitted a 14-page memorandum to the President, A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, the Vice- President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, also demanding a judicial probe by a sitting judge of either the Supreme Court or the High Court into these murders during the last nine-month of Congress rule.
`YSR a factionist'
"We want the Union Government to remove the Chief Minister who has failed to do his duty of protecting the lives of people. He is a factional leader who is now at the helm of affairs in the State and we are waging a democratic battle for our lives,'' Mr. Naidu told correspondents. The TDP also said a special court should be set up to try and dispose of all political murders. Shift Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri who was operating from Cherlapalli jail to a prison outside the State or to a State where the Congress was not in power and provide protection to five TDP leaders whose lives were under threat.
Congress hits back
State Congress leaders were quick to dismiss these allegations and maintained that the Rajasekhara Reddy Government had already decided to hand over the murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The State Information Minister, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, said during the nine-year TDP rule over 450 Congress workers were done to death, including those allegedly by a faction of Paritala Ravi.
Booklet released
Carrying forward the allegations against the Chief Minister, the TDP chief released a booklet: "If a Factionist becomes Chief Minister,'' carrying details of political crimes during the last nine months and alleging "Government-police nexus'' behind the recent murder.
Mr. Naidu claimed that the TDP was behaving like a responsible opposition and using all democratic methods of submitting memorandum to constitutional heads in the State and now at the Centre.
If the TDP president arrived here with a huge delegation of MPs, MLAs and former Ministers to present his case before the Centre, the Congress to tried to keep pace.
Mr. Shabbir along with the AICC Secretary, P. Sudhakar Reddy, the party MP, D. Vittal Rao, the State Government Special Representative, Mallu Ravi, and the former Deputy Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council, A. Chakrapani, addressed the media and later met the party leaders to present the "correct'' picture.
