The Hindu : CPI demands apology from Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 02, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

CPI demands apology from Minister

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, FEB. 1. The Communist Party of India State unit today demanded an apology from the Minister for Information, S. Chandramohan Reddy, for "insulting" the Gudur Municipal chairperson, K. Kalpalatha, and action against officials who allegedly drove her to attempt suicide in the presence of Mr. Reddy on January 31.

K. Narayana, CPI assistant secretary, in a statement issued here charged the Telugu Desam Party with "misusing" the municipal function for propaganda on the eve of elections, projecting it as a party affair. He said Rs. 2 crores was allocated by the municipality for development works to be taken up at Gudur. The Minister had attended the launching of these works when Ms. Kalpalatha tried to end her life by consuming sleeping pills, irked by officials' alleged attempts to sideline her. Mr. Narayana, while condemning the incident and the officials' behaviour, demanded action against them.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Mahila Samakhya demanded an enquiry into the incident and filing of a case against the Minister for "humiliating" the municipal chairperson.

Ch. Rajakumari, president, and P. Padma and P. Pavani, general secretaries of the Samakhya, in a statement accused the TDP and BJP leaders of adopting an indifferent attitude towards their political opponents.

They stated that the suicide attempt by the civic body's chairperson showed the results of the neglect the State Government, Ministers and leaders were showing towards leaders belonging to other parties.

The Samakhya leaders wanted the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, to make public the action he intended to take against Mr. Chandramohan Reddy. They called for a joint struggle by women to end what they described as "political neglect" being experienced by them under the TDP regime.

N. Satyanarayana, chairman, APCC Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Cell, asked the Chief Minister to dismiss Mr. Chandramohan Reddy. In a statement condemning the Minister's behaviour, he wanted the foundation stones for the development works in Gudur to be re-laid. He said the Government should take steps to ensure that justice was done to Ms. Kalpalatha.

Our Nellore Staff Reporter writes:

The Chairperson of Gudur Municipality, K. Kalpalatha, who attempted suicide on Saturday in protest against alleged humiliation meted out to her at a function at Gudur, said that the Information Minister and District Collector would be held responsible for the incident. She told reporters here on Sunday at the Bollineni Hospital, Nellore, where she was undergoing treatment that the function was arranged without anybody's notice despite a status quo position granted by a court order.

Accordingly, when she came to know that a function was arranged in which the Information Minister, S. Chandramohan Reddy, and others participated, without any invitation/information to her, she felt humiliated. This, the chairperson contended, was an insult to the self-respect of the people of Gudur and to uphold their respect, she took the extreme step. The TDP functionaries also could not digest the fact that she had recently joined the Congress.

She lashed out at the Minister and wanted to know whether this was the `respect' shown to women by a Government, which never tired of boasting about welfare programmes for women. Saturday's incident clearly shows that the State Government has no respect for local bodies and no seriousness in according them their legitimate authority, she contended. Meanwhile, `protest meetings' were held separately at Gudur on Sunday evening by the Congress and Telugu Desam parties.

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