YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday demanded a CBI probe into the recent demolition of 42 houses at Joji Nagar here, alleging involvement of highly influential people within the government. Jagan visited the site today and expressed solidarity with the affected families.

"Only a CBI probe will expose the truth and the role of people in high places behind these demolitions," Jagan told reporters, after interacting with those affected and also promised them legal assistance.

A Vijayawada Municipal Corporation official told PTI that it played no role in the demolition of these houses. According to Jagan, 42 families living on a 2.1-acre plot reportedly worth around Rs 150 crore had all requisite permission and were paying Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) on housing loans when their homes were razed to the ground. The former CM accused Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, IT minister Nara Lokesh and other local leaders of "backing the demolition" to benefit private players.

He claimed that the demolitions were carried out under heavy police presence despite the Supreme Court interim relief order protecting the residents till December 31.

The land grab was facilitated by fake documents created during the previous TDP tenure between 2014 and 2019, with a bogus society registered retrospectively in 2016 to facilitate litigation, he added. The opposition leader questioned how official permissions were granted if the residents did not own the land and charged the NDA coalition government with "gross misuse of power". Meanwhile, there was no immediate response from the ruling TDP.

Jagan calls one crore signature campaign against medical college ‘privatisation’

Amaravati: YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that his party's one crore signature campaign against the alleged privatisation of government medical colleges is a "historic and resounding public verdict" against the N Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh. Jagan said the massive rallies were held on Monday in all 26 district headquarters of the state as part of the signature campaign. "This is not merely a campaign against privatisation, but a powerful and historic people's verdict against Chandrababu Naidu's anti-people decisions," Jagan said in a post on X late on Monday.

Jagan also asserted that more than one crore people voluntarily participated in the movement. According to the former CM, people from all sections of society came forward, fearing that the NDA coalition government's decision would allegedly destroy affordable medical education and public healthcare in the state. Jagan said that the petition would ensure the collective voice of the people reaches the highest constitutional authority and subsequently the courts. The YSRCP chief thanked party leaders, cadres, volunteers and people for standing firmly against what he described as an alleged attempt to hand over public assets to private interests.

He alleged that the campaign exposed the NDA alliance government's plan to privatise medical colleges built with public money. Jagan demanded that Naidu immediately roll back the decision to allegedly privatise government medical colleges, terming it a "daylight robbery" of public healthcare and medical education. Jagan and senior party leaders are scheduled to meet Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer on December 18 to submit the signatures, highlighting public opposition to the NDA coalition government's alleged privatisation plan.