The untimely demise of young YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh industries and commerce minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy due to heart attack a couple of days ago was really a shock to the party, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and also to the people of Nellore district.
All sections of people, cutting across their political affiliations, expressed profound grief over the death of Goutham Reddy.
Even Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu came to Goutham Reddy’s residence in Hyderabad and paid tributes to him.
Yet, the TDP seems to have seen an opportunity to gain political mileage from the sudden death of the minister by targeting the chef minister.
Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi leader and TDP sympathiser Kolikapudi Srinivas tweeted that Goutham’s death was not natural but a sort of murder committed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
He alleged that the chief minister had brought immense pressure on Goutham Reddy on bringing investments into the state and that resulted in a lot of mental stress to the minister, leading to his untimely death.
On Wednesday, former minister and senior TDP leader Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy also made similar comments on the death of Goutham Reddy. He went to the extent of demanding that a CBI inquiry be ordered into the minister’s untimely death.
“Since the state has not been getting any external investments in industrial sector, Jagan has brought a lot of pressure on Goutham Reddy. He even called up the minister, who was in Dubai Expo, several times and subjected him to mental torture,” he alleged.
He said if the government orders a CBI probe into the causes for Goutham Reddy’s death, facts would come out.
“It is unfortunate that a promising leader had to face such an unnatural death,” Bandaru said.
YSR Congress party leaders lashed out at the TDP leader for suspecting foul play in the death of Goutham Reddy.
“It seems Satyanarayana Murthy has lost his mental balance and is making silly statements in a drunken state. If he cannot control his tongue, we shall slit it,” YSRC MLA Gudivada Amarnath Reddy warned.
Reddy alleged that Naidu had given such a worse training to his party leaders.
“This is the height of frustration of the TDP leaders. Bandaru should remember that Goutham Reddy had signed agreements for Rs 5,000 crore with various investments in the state,” he reminded.
Even YSRC parliamentary party leader and general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy also lashed out at the TDP leader for demanding the CBI probe into Goutham Reddy’s death.
“It shows the TDP’s bankruptcy of culture and mental status. The party and its president deserve to be in the mental asylum,” he added.