YS Jagan Calls Out Chandrababu’s Drama: “You Should Be Ashamed To Call Yourself A Leader”

YSRCP president and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday lashed out at the Chandrababu Naidu government for neglecting farmers in the state.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jagan launched a scathing attack on the TDP government and the ‘yellow media’ for labeling farmers who welcomed the former Chief Minister at Bangarupalem on Wednesday as rowdies.

Jagan highlighted that despite restrictions—including serving notices to hundreds, resorting to suppression tactics, and even lathi charges—during his visit to the mango market yard in Bangarupalem, Chittoor district, thousands of farmers still turned up voluntarily to express their anguish.

He further questioned why the government had announced a procurement rate of ₹4 per kg and directed factories to buy mangoes at ₹8 per kg if farmers were not in distress and unwilling to sell the produce.

“Why did the Central government send a letter to JDS leader Kumaraswamy, a minister in your NDA government at the Centre, in Karnataka, promising ₹16/kg as the minimum price? Why did your Agriculture Minister Atchannaidu rush to Delhi as soon as my Bangarupalem visit was confirmed? Doesn’t this prove that farmers are indeed facing losses?” he asked.

Condemning the contradictions in the government’s stance towards farmers, Jagan observed, “On one hand, you admit that losses exist. On the other, when we highlight these very losses, you respond with slander and censorship.”

Stating that Chandrababu Naidu and media channels affiliated with the TDP had stooped to a new low, Jagan noted that distressed farmers who discarded mango produce on the roads as a form of protest were being treated as criminals.

“Twisting facts and misrepresenting them in your media outlets is shameful. Your indifference and irresponsibility toward agriculture and farmers’ issues is on full display. You write and speak as though mango farmers are carefree and celebrating. Could there be anything more shameless than this? Chandrababu garu, you should feel ashamed to call yourself a leader. Your media should feel ashamed to call its profession journalism,” the YSRCP chief remarked.

Emphasizing that 6.5 lakh tonnes of mango crop across 2.2 lakh acres and 76,000 farmer families had been affected, Jagan said farmers had been dumping ripe mangoes for the past two months because no one was buying them.

“We've all seen it. Yet, you brand these suffering farmers as criminals?” he questioned.

The former Chief Minister continued: “By your logic, any farmer, youth, unemployed person, woman, or worker who protests against injustice—along with those who support them—are to be branded as rowdies and anti-social elements. Isn’t that what you believe, Chandrababu garu?”

Highlighting that such distress was never faced by farmers under the YSRCP government, Jagan pointed out that mangoes had fetched ₹25–29/kg then.

“In comparison, mangoes are being sold at ₹2.5–₹3/kg now. Is it wrong for me, as the opposition leader, to question this in Bangarupalem?” he asked.

Observing that the procurement rate had crashed after the TDP-led NDA came to power, he demanded an explanation for not opening pulp factories between May 10 and 15, as is standard every year.

“Why were only a few factories opened after a one-month delay? Isn’t this deliberate mismanagement?” he asked.

Jagan accused Chandrababu Naidu of deliberately acting against the farmers to benefit his allies.

Additionally, the YSRCP supremo pointed out that not a single crop—paddy, chilli, cotton, maize, pulses, bananas, onions, cocoa, tobacco, and now mangoes—had received minimum support price under the TDP government.

He charged Chandrababu Naidu with staging drama after drama to deceive farmers.

“You said you’d have the Centre procure chilli, but didn’t buy even a single kilo. Same with tobacco farmers—you just issue statements, but with no sincerity,” he remarked.

Highlighting the TDP government’s failure to extend Rythu Bharosa and input crop subsidies to farmers, Jagan accused the ruling alliance of weakening the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) and destroying supply chains for quality seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.

“And when we question your failures, you attack both us and the farmers protesting. This must stop,” he stressed, and advised Chandrababu Naidu to change his ways and start supporting the farmers.