Jagan Reddy alleges Congress-TDP nexus: 'Rahul Gandhi in direct touch with Chandrababu Naidu'

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, president YSR Congress Party.

YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday took aim at Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, questioning his silence on allegations of discrepancies in the Assembly elections held last year.

Addressing the media in Tadepalli, Jagan said that Rahul, who has raised the issue of alleged voter manipulation in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana, was conspicuous with his silence on Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.

"Rahul Gandhi talks about issues in Karnataka and Maharashtra, but why not Andhra Pradesh or about (Arvind) Kejriwal who himself lost as an MLA in his New Delhi seat -- both of which are similar to the allegations he has raised. Why doesn't Congress spokesperson and Andhra Pradesh in-charge speak about Andhra?" Jagan said.

The former Chief Minister further claimed that Rahul Gandhi was in constant touch with incumbent CM and Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu and that Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and the Congress high command maintain close ties with Naidu.

Discussing alleged irregularities in the Andhra Pradesh elections, Jagan further said that the number of voters increased by 12.5 percent between the time of polling and the counting of votes.

"12.5% is the difference between the number of votes was announced post-poll versus the actual number of votes that were counted. So this 12.5% is a huge gap. In fact, there's so much more than the "vote chori" controversy that Rahul Gandhi is currently talking about. Andhra Pradesh is probably the biggest in terms of that percentage what any state what Rahul Gandhi could even speak of," he added.

Jagan was responding to questions over why the YSRCP was yet to join ranks with the Opposition on the issue of SIR in Bihar. He also told reporters that the allegations he has raised regarding the AP elections were taken up with the Election Commission as well as in courts.