Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha on Thursday criticised Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for defending former Minister Seediri Appalaraju’s son, Seediri Arav Varma, who had recently surrendered to police in a hit-and-run case.

The police found that Arav rode the two-wheeler, which claimed the life of a 45-year-old man after hitting him on the National Highway near Kasibugga in Srikakulam district on July 10. A day after Arav surrendered at Kasibugga police station, Mr. Reddy accused the State government of resorting to political vendetta, terming the government’s response as “politically motivated”.

Participating in the Vizianagaram district review meeting, Ms. Anitha, who is in charge of the district, said that people of all sections were shocked by Mr. Jagan’s statements, calling the accused, Arav, a small boy and that it was unfair to book cases with stringent sections.

She asserted that Mr. Appalaraju should surrender to the police personnel for reportedly trying to tamper with the evidence to protect his son from the police cases.

The Home Minister stated that Mr. Jagan was “shedding crocodile tears” as he visited the families of fishermen who went missing in the recent Visakhapatnam boat accident to console them. She countered the former CM’s statement by saying that Visakhapatnam district had responded very quickly and had taken up search operations continuously for three days to save the victims.

She said that the Home Ministry was taking several steps to strengthen the Police Department, which was provided with CCTV cameras and drones to identify unlawful activities and use the footage as evidence.

Earlier, Ms. Anitha said that pending amounts will be deposited in the accounts of farmers who had surrendered their lands for the construction of Bhogapuram International Airport.

She directed Collector S. Ramsundar Reddy to settle the issue before the inauguration of the international airport.

Published - July 16, 2026 09:10 pm IST