andhra-pradesh

Updated: Aug 17, 2019 15:08 IST

Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was served a notice by the state government on Saturday to vacate his rented residence on the banks of the Krishna river in Amaravati’s Undavalli. The notices were sent in the wake of alarming rise in the levels of the river due to huge inflows from upstream.

The inflows into Krishna river at Prakasam barrage connecting Vijayawada and Guntur - which were around 5.6 lakh cusecs on Friday - increased to 7.66 lakh cusecs by Saturday morning, inundating several houses constructed on the riverfront.

In the Naidu residence, water which inundated the steps on the peripheries a couple of days ago, entered the outhouse located in the backyard. Naidu and his family members had already moved to Hyderabad and the caretakers of his house have shifted all his belongings from the ground floor to the first floor.

On Saturday. the revenue authorities served notices to Naidu and 32 others to vacate their houses immediately as the floods in Krishna river were threatening to inundate houses along its banks

In the “urgent notice” pasted on the main entrance of Naidu’s residence, Tadepalli tahasildar V Srinivasulu Reddy said that since the houses were built on the riverfront, there is a danger of them being submerged due to heavy floods.

“Already, there was an inflow of 7.50 lakh cusecs of water into the river and there is a possibility that another one lakh cusecs might be released. This might result in complete submergence of the houses. As such, it is advised that all these houses be vacated completely to avoid any loss to lives. This notice is being served only to prevent loss of life,” Reddy said.

The issuance of notice to Naidu heated up political atmosphere in the state with the TDP and ruling YSR Congress party leaders indulging in a slug fest.

YSRC MLA and spokesperson Ambati Rambabu said the notice was served in the best interest of Naidu if he remained stubborn, he would have to face nature’s fury. “It is an illegal construction built in violation of river conservation rules. He should vacate the house immediately,” Rambabu said.

TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh tweeted that the authorities were trying to create panic by stating that their residence was going to be submerged.

“Water entered only up to the outhouse. And there is a lot of distance between the outhouse and the actual residence,” he pointed out.

TDP spokesperson Bonda Uma alleged that the YSRC government had been specifically targeting Naidu’s residence and was hell bent on evicting him from the house, instead of focusing on shifting people from low-lying areas to safer places.

The Bharatiya Janata Party accused both the TDP and YSRC of using the flood situation to settle political scores instead of coming to the rescue of flood victims.

“The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government is busy settling personal vendetta against Naidu and it miserably failed in tackling the flood situation,” BJP leader and MP Y S Chowdary said.

BJP Andhra Pradesh president Kanna Lakshminarayana found fault with both Naidu and Jagan. “While the man who drowned the state in debts is taking shelter in Hyderabad, the chief minister has ignored the flood situation and went on a pleasure trip to America,” he said.