YSRC scuttling political aspirations of Dalits: Naidu

VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday slammed YSR Congress leaders for 'launching’ attacks on SCs in the capital city surroundings just because they came forward to contest in the panchayat elections. He asked whether the ruling party would not like to see Dalits rise to higher positions in politics.

Naidu said that the Chief Minister and his party leaders should realise that the country’s democratic vibrancy gives rights to every citizen to contest elections.

Meanwhile, the former chief minister condemned Dalits being pelted with stones, allegedly at the behest of YSRC leaders, in Pedakurapadu Assembly constituency’s Lingapuram village. He said the attack was only because SCs had fielded a candidate against the ruling party nominee.

Naidu alleged that the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime sent rowdies to create chaos in villages. He said that the goons were not only striking terror among the people but also insulting women. He lamented that police personnel were deliberately not taking any action although complaints were filed against YSRC leaders for abusing SCs in the name of caste and attacking them with stones.

The TD chief asserted that Jagan Mohan Reddy would go down in history as a Dalit-betrayer because of his government's unchecked atrocities against weaker sections. He alleged that the panchayat elections were not being held in a free and fair manner as anti-socials were disrupting the process at every stage but the YSRC leaders were shamelessly claiming that they have people's support.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu expressed concern that the Chief Minister was bent upon benefitting his benamis by putting up thousands of acres of Visaka Steel Plant land for sale. He asserted that it was the Chief Minister and his party MP Vijay Sai Reddy who had conspired the VSP privatisation plan with Aurobindo and Hetero companies being party to the deal. He recalled that the Jagan regime
had handed over the Kakinada SEZ and Bay Park to the CM's benamis.

Ramakrishnudu said that since the YSRC came to power, there was no end to threats, settlements and land-grab incidents by their gangsters, who have now eyeing the prime steel plant lands. He said that the Chief Minister's letter was to ensure that the sale of VSP lands would seem like a decision taken by the Union Government and thereby avoid any bad name for YSRC. He alleged that Reddy's eventual plan was to get possession of these lands through his benamis as the value of an acre of the steel plant land was over and above
Rs 3 crore in the market.

The senior TD leader termed it as a ‘bankrupt’ decision on the part of YSRC to oppose the orders of the State Election Commission to issue re-notification for ZPTC and MPTC polls wherever forcible unanimous results were announced in the past.