Reacting to the alleged attack on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders during their visit to Amaravati on Saturday, party president and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy questioned whether Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was running a government or “a regime of goons”.

In a social media post, Mr. Jagan said the former Ministers, MLCs and other YSRCP leaders had visited Amaravati at the invitation of farmers in the capital region. He asked whether Mr. Naidu would go to the extent of “murdering democracy”.

Alleging that the attack was intended to suppress the truth, Mr. Jagan said it was aimed at preventing the hardships of farmers, the alleged corruption and plunder in the name of Amaravati, and the atrocities committed against them from coming to light.

He further alleged that some police officers had themselves coordinated the attack and questioned whether standing by farmers, who were suffering because of the alleged excesses committed in the name of Amaravati, had become a crime.

Mr. Jagan alleged that farmers who had refused to part with their lands were being harassed through land acquisition notices, while roads leading to their fields had been damaged. He also claimed that water from the Kondaveetivagu was being diverted into their fields, making cultivation impossible.

He further alleged that, despite their refusal to surrender land, returnable plots were being registered in the farmers’ names without their consent.

Claiming that thousands of acres had already been acquired for Amaravati, Mr. Jagan questioned how much more land was required. He alleged that the additional land was intended to be distributed to the benamis of Mr. Naidu and leaders of his party.

“The dangerous precedent you have set today will invite an even stronger response tomorrow. People will not forgive you. They will uproot your government completely. YSRCP will never bow before your politics of violence. We will continue to expose the corruption and atrocities being committed against Amaravati farmers at every step,” Mr. Jagan said.