The Hindu : Azad kick-starts poll campaign; calls Naidu pro-rich

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Azad kick-starts poll campaign; calls Naidu pro-rich

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Jan. 28. Congress leaders today made a discernible attempt to wean women away from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and woo them back to the Congress fold in their run-up to the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

This was more than clear when the Congress heavyweights, right from the party's Andhra Pradesh in-charge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, down to Pradesh Congress Committee leaders, virtually tried to whip-up anti-TDP sentiments among women, especially DWCRA women, who, the Congress fears, are the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu's vote bank.

Mr. Azad called Mr. Chandrababu Naidu "anti-women" and virtually grilled him for paying a paltry monthly pension of Rs.75 each to widows, old women and to the physically handicapped as against Rs.300 being paid by Congress-ruled States. He held out a promise that Congress, if voted to power, would not only hike the pension to Rs.150 p.m., but would also ensure that the money reached their doorstep through Money Order, saving them from the ordeal of running from pillar to post.

Mr. Azad kick-started the party's election campaign in Mr. Naidu's native district of Chittoor by addressing a string of meetings at Nagari, Puttur, Srikalahasti and Tirupati on the first leg of his three-day whistle-stop electioneering.

Mr. Azad then went on to point out that if women enjoyed a political clout now in the country, it was the ``gift'' of Rajiv Gandhi, who got them a berth in local bodies. Pouring scorn at Mr. Naidu, he criticised that no political party in the country would be as inimical as the TDP is to the cause of women.

Showering the choicest epithets on the TDP president, Mr. Azad said that MR. Naidu was "anti-kisan, anti-development and a hardcore capitalistic who always tried to protect the cause of only the rich leaving the poor out in the cold." He said he perceived a strong anti-TDP wave sweeping the State. "Beware, your fate and your State's fate is in your hands and hinges heavily on the coming elections. Any wrong step, you would have to regret life long," he told the gathering.

He said the present `yatra' in the district was to throw the TDP Government out "lock stock and barrel.''

The State Congress leaders, including Mr. Chandrababu Naidu's estranged younger brother, Ramamurthy Naidu, breathed fire at the Chief Minister.

The former Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, charged that the Chief Minister in his "craze'' for hi-tech schemes drowned the State in debts.

The APCC president, D. Srinivas, said there was no going back on the free power supply to farmers if the Congress was voted to power.

Rather intriguingly, not even once did Mr. Azad mention about the free power supply at any meeting today.

The former Chief Minister, N. Janardhan Reddy, said that Mr. Naidu was not run the Government, but was trading with it.

Chintha Mohan, Congress Working Committee (CWC) Member and former Tirupati MP, and Dasari Narayana Rao, film director, also spoke.

Another AICC leader and former PCC chief, V. Hanumantha Rao, known for his strained relations with Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy reportedly skipped the Puttur meet visibly angry over his not getting a chance to speak at the Nagari meet.

The former PCC president, M. SathyanarayanaRao, former MLAs of Nagari and Puttur -- R. Chenga Reddy and G. Muddukrishnama Naidu -- the DCC president, P. Ramachandra Reddy, were among the other speakers.

At Srikalahasti, Mr. Azad left the stage in a huff because of the confusion and chaos that prevailed at the dais.

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