Former Chief Minister and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched a scathing attack on the Chandrababu Naidu government on Wednesday, accusing it of deliberately creating a fertilizer shortage to exploit farmers and promote black marketing.

Addressing the media at the party’s central office in Tadepalli, Jagan questioned whether there was a functioning government at all in Andhra Pradesh. He alleged that farmers, even in Chief Minister Naidu’s own constituency of Kuppam, were being forced to line up for fertilizer, something he described as a disgrace. “It is so shameful that even in the Chief Minister’s constituency farmers are queuing up for fertilizer. If I were in his position, I would rather jump into a well than bear this humiliation,” he remarked, sparking controversy with his words.

Jagan said that during his five-year tenure as Chief Minister, not once did farmers have to take to the streets over fertilizer shortages. “For the past two months, farmers have been suffering due to severe scarcity. When our party launched the ‘Annadata Poru’ campaign and submitted petitions to revenue officials, the government retaliated by sending police at midnight to issue notices to our leaders. Is fighting for farmers’ rights a crime?” he asked.

Accusing the TDP government of working against the public interest, Jagan alleged that governance today is being run for exploiters, not for the people. 

He warned that medical colleges are being handed over to private hands under the guise of Public-Private Partnership (PPP), a move he said would erode public health access. “Education, healthcare, and agriculture are being surrendered to private profiteers. The state economy is sliding backwards compared to the rest of the country,” he said.

The YSRCP chief also accused the government of crushing dissent. “Under this so-called Red Book rule, people are even losing the freedom to raise their voice,” Jagan declared, lamenting that the administration had failed in even its most basic responsibilities.