VIJAYAWADA: YSRC leaders seem to be perturbed by increasing surveillance on party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ongoing padayatra by police forces, especially intelligence sleuths.

They call is snooping into the ongoing walkathon undertaken by Jagan to gauge public mood for political reasons.





Party leaders say that dedicated intelligence teams have been deployed by the state government in every district where the padayatra passes to know the pulse of the walkathon and also to keep tabs on people who meet and interact with Jagan during his breaks.

The police has also used drones to analyse the crowds attending the meetings when the padyatra halts at a particular place. In Chittoor district, the police personnel used Field Alert Centre for Operational Networking (FALCON) van. The vehicle was, however, removed later when the YSRC leaders objected, they said.

For every district that the YSRC chef visits as part of the padayatra, authorities have been deploying between 10 and 15 intelligence staff to gauge the response he manages to garner.

The information that is passed on to the higher authorities will be used by them to frame strategies to counter the opposition party initiatives, said a YSRC leader.

“This is nothing but an attempt to know the response of the padayatra for political reasons so that the ruling party can plan their strategies. TD can try any trick but YSRC is going to get majority seats in 2019 polls. With the remarkable response that Jagan has been getting wherever he goes, we are unable to control the crowds. TD leaders can stoop to any levels but they would not be able to stop Jagan and YSRC. It was only after we objected to the FALCON van that it was removed. We suspect the equipment in it can also tap our conversations,” former minister and YSRC senior leader Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said.

Police sources, however, maintained that their teams and the drones were deployed to detect and detain any anti-social element that could have joined the crowds and also to prevent any untoward incidents .

Rajampeta MP Mithun Reddy said that such activity by the government only shows the insecurity of the ruling party leaders as Mr. Reddy has been registering great response.