Tirupati: Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy blamed the Telugu Desam Party for the stone attack on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy because the opposition party could not bear to see his rising popularity in the state.

Addressing the media on Sunday, the minister claimed that Nara Lokesh's comments on X (formerly Twitter) alleging "2019 Kodi Kathi and 2024 attack with stone" clearly indicated the TDP's involvement in the attack on the CM during his Memantha Siddham bus yatra in Singh Nagar on Saturday evening.

It may be recalled here that Janapalli Srinivas alias Kodi Kathi Srinu had attacked the then YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Visakhapatnam airport back when he was Leader of the Opposition.

"Will anyone plan an attack on himself? We will give the same stone to Lokesh. You have to board a bus in the same area and ask someone to throw the stone at you to know whether it is possible to properly plan and hit the target with a stone," Peddireddy said.

He accused Chandrababu Naidu, Lokesh, Pawan Kalyan and Purandeswari of being in despair and unable to digest CM Jagan's growing popularity.

Recalling past instances when Naidu had made light of CM Jagan's padayatras, the minister stated, "(Naidu had said) If the padayatra goes beyond Guntur, it will lose its steam,” But as party’s in-charge of Krishna district, we have made the bus yatra in the region a grand success, he added.