HYDERABAD: The BJP has stated that it will set up ‘village governments,’ with villages being the primary units of governance, if the party came to power in Telangana, its state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said on Sunday.
He was addressing a gathering of villagers and sarpanches while walking through Narva mandal in Mahbubnagar district on day 11 of his Praja Sangrama Yatra.
He said “if the Chief Minister is the boss for the state, we will make sarpanches the bosses of their respective villages.”
The TRS government, he said, has robbed sarpanches of all their powers and turned them into figureheads devoid of any administrative power.
Some of the sarpanches, who attended the meeting, complained that they were being harassed at every level.
“If a sapling planted under Haritha Haram programme dries up, then we are being issued notices for no fault of ours. It is particularly severe if the sarpanch does not belong to the ruling party,” they stated.
The BJP leader said that every penny that reaches a gram panchayat comes from Central funds, which could be around Rs 1 crore spread over five years.
“Today is the National Panchayat Raj Day, a day meant to recognise the role of sarpanches. However, the Chief Minister could not care less about their welfare,” Sanjay said.
Being on the road for 11 days affected his health with the padayatra managers saying he had suffered gastroenteritis.
Though there was some uncertainty whether he would be able to resume his walkathon, post-sunset, Sanjay did so and addressed a public meeting at Patherched village in Makthal Assembly constituency.
