The two-day visit of TDP national working president Nara Lokesh to Kadapa district appeared to be an official programme to inaugurate a solar project, but it was also marked by his ‘political punches’ aimed at the YSR Congress Party in the native district of its president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Mr. Lokesh, in his maiden visit to Kadapa as TDP’s national working president, left no opportunity to present a comparative picture with the erstwhile government led by YSRCP, be it the ‘Praja Darbar’ conducted to receive representations from the public, or the meeting of party workers organised in Kadapa and Jammalamadugu constituencies.

Even the commissioning of the solar project was highlighted as a visionary step towards making the State self-reliant.

“Maa brand job creation... mee brand goddali (our brand is job creation, your brand is axe),” Mr. Lokesh said amid a thunderous round of applause from the party workers, indirectly referring to the murder of former MP and Mr. Jagan’s paternal uncle Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.

In the same vein, he credited the flow of investments into the State to the visionary leadership of his father and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. “Andhra Pradesh owes its development to ‘Brand CBN,” he remarked.

“It is not just the commissioning of a plant, but reflects on the NDA government’s vision, speed, confidence and deliverability,” the Minister said at the plant’s inauguration.

He also sniped at the reported statements made by Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy on the project and said “the YSRCP chief suffered from CCD (Credit Chori Disorder),” adding that “attempting to claim credit without solid homework would never work.”

TDP’s zonal coordinator Reddeppagari Srinivasa Reddy and legislator R. Madhavi Reddy vowed to wrest Kadapa Municipal Corporation during the ensuing elections, while Handloom Minister S. Savitha and TDP district president C. Bhupesh Reddy brought several issues to his notice.