Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday likened YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, criticizing the state of law and order and accusing Reddy of fostering a drug menace over the past five years.
Releasing a white paper on law and order and marijuana prevalence, Naidu claimed he had never witnessed a situation as dire as the one under Reddy's rule. "Only one person can be compared to what happened in Andhra, and it is Pablo Escobar," he said in the Assembly, in an apparent reference to the drug menace.
The Chief Minister further stated that Escobar was a drug lord who illegally trafficked billions of dollars' worth of drugs and also resorted to murdering leaders and politicians who opposed him.
Describing Escobar as a "narco-terrorist," Naidu alleged that a similar situation had emerged in Andhra Pradesh under the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) regime (2019-24), with ganja reportedly being freely available.