Naidu asks Jagan to reimburse money 'wasted' on applying party colours on Govt buildings

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday slammed the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government for ‘wasting’ public money for applying its party flag colours on panchayat offices and government buildings in Andhra Pradesh. He asked the state Government led by Chief Minister Jagan Reddy to disclose the amount of spent on applying party colours till date.

"They applied three colours of the ruling party. When the High Court ordered for changing the colours, the government approached the Supreme Court which upheld the High Court's order. Again, the government came back to the High Court and applied the fourth colour insignificantly at the bottom," the TDP Supremo said in a statement.

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Chandrababu Naidu alleged that crores of public money were being wastefully spent on implementing useless programmes launched by the YSRCP.

"It was evident that hundreds of crores public funds were spent on applying three colours and then adding one more colour. Now, the additional expenditure would be there for removing these colours in accordance with the latest court orders," he said.

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‘Making Andhra Pradesh bankrupt’

Criticising the YCRCP Government, Naidu asked whether CM Jagan Mohan Reddy had come to power to "waste public money on programmes like YCP colours on public offices and to make the state bankrupt." The TDP chief further labelled the YSRCP government as inexperienced and full of inefficiencies.

"How they have been making countless mistakes in order to cover one wrong deed. The ruling party's non-stop failures in all aspects were proving to be a big threat to the future of Andhra Pradesh," Chandrababu Naidu said.

He added that no leader has ever thought of applying his party colours on government buildings in the country's history.

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SC dismisses plea to allow party colours

Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court dismissed Andhra Pradesh government’s plea challenging a high court order to remove the ruling political party’s colours from government buildings.

The apex court bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao and comprising Krishan Murari and S Ravindra Bhat heard the case through video conferencing and rejected the appeal filed by YSR Congress Party.

The Andhra Pradesh high court had on 9 March directed the principal secretary of Panchayati raj department to remove the colours painted on the buildings within 10 days. The order also directed the concerned authority to formulate guidelines specifying suitable colours for painting government properties which are not similar to colours of political parties.

The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government, represented by lawyer GN Reddy, claimed that the colours were no way related to YSRCP flag.

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(With inputs from agencies)