Till nearly eight months ago, the police department in Andhra Pradesh was strongly supporting Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, since he was the chief minister.
Such was the respect Naidu used to command in the police department that the YSR Congress party leaders, including party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, used to say that they had no faith in Andhra police since they were favouring the TDP.
Now that Naidu is out of power, things have changed completely. While the TDP chief is accusing the police officers of toeing the line of the ruling YSRC, the police are refuting his allegations more aggressively.
On Sunday, the Andhra Pradesh Police Officers Association went a step further and described Naidu as a “traitor” and an “anti-social element,” for allegedly fomenting trouble in Amaravati capital region for his political gains.
“Why can’t you be called a traitor for attributing regional feelings to our Director General of Police Gautam Sawang? Why shouldn’t you be called a traitor for creating differences in the police in the name of North India and South and Northeast?” Association’s honourary president Narreddi Chandrasekhar Reddy and president Janakula Srinivasa Rao asked.
They alleged that Naidu was behaving like an anti-social element as he was trying to bring in caste-based split in the police department.
“If you continue to criticise our DGP, we will not give you even this much respect,” they said.
What is more humiliating to Naidu is that the association leaders addressed Naidu in “singular” term (Nuvvu, instead of Meeru). They even challenged him to mention a single good work he had done for the police when he was in power.
“You had exploited the police like slaves. You did not give even water to those policemen who were protecting you”, they alleged.
Commenting that people had already rejected Naidu through their verdict in the elections, they said even the police would boycott him if he did not mend his ways.
