Cong. demands panchayat polls by Dec.

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 25. The Congress-I has demanded that the elections to the panchayat raj institutions should be completed by December- end though the Supreme Court, while disposing of a special leave petition (SLP) of the State Government, has set March 31, 2001, as deadline for these polls.

At separate press conferences on Saturday, the leader of the Congress-I Legislature Party (CLP), Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, and the APCC-I official spokesman, Mr.K.Rosaiah, claimed that there was no legal or other obstacles in holding the elections by December-end.

But they alleged that the Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, was trying to advance ``lame excuses'' to build a case for putting off the elections beyond March.

The Congress-I leaders argued that the State Election Commission (SEC) was fully prepared to hold the elections and the time required for holding the polls was a minimum 21 days, the maximum limit being 30 days.

Neither the Census operations, commencing on January 1, nor the case pending in the High Court pertaining to Backward Classes reservations posed any hassle, they asserted.

Dr.Rajasekhara Reddy said the special officers of the mandal and zilla parishads ceased to function in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissing the SLP of the State Government. The SLP was against the judgment of the A.P. High Court which quashed the A.P.Mandal Parishad and Zilla Parishad (Transitional arrangements) Ordinance, 2000, and other GOs relating to the appointment of special officers. The CLP leader said an immediate election was warranted in view of the vacuum created by virtue of the Supreme Court verdict. He alleged that the Chief Minister's reaction to the court verdict was not positive as ``he is searching for alibis to put off the polls and cited the BC reservation case in the High Court''.

Mr.Rosaiah said the Government need not fight shy on the elections as the procedure and principles adopted in recent municipal elections regarding the reserved seats to the BCs could be applied in the present case.

The CLP leader demanded that the Government should pay subsidy to the farmers for keeping their farms fallow in view of the glut in the production of paddy and other crops ``as similar practice is in vogue in the USA to regulate crop production''.

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