The Hindu : TDP ridicules Congress talk of empowering weaker sections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP ridicules Congress talk of empowering weaker sections

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, FEB. 7: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has ridiculed the Congress promising social, economic and political emancipation of weaker sections and said it has been made with an eye on vote bank. It is ridiculous that a century-old party which was in power at the Centre for over four decades and in the State for 35 years talks of empowering weaker sections `if elected to power', the TDP general secretary, K. Kala Venkat Rao, MP, Alladi Raj Kumar, and the party's Backward Classes (BC) Cell chairman, Ankem Prabhakar, told reporters here on Saturday.

Reacting to the promises of Congress leaders at a convention of backward classes in the city on Friday, Mr. Rao and others wondered why the former did not discuss the contribution of their party to weaker sections when in power. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who addressed the convention, harped on `impractical' promises.

They said it was the TDP Government that recognised BCs and gave ticket to many leaders of these sections to contest polls. With a view to extending political power to grassroot workers, the party had introduced mandal system with 20 per cent representation to BCs in the State which ensured that 400 people from these sections were elected mandal parishad presidents and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) members.

It was the founder TDP president, N.T. Rama Rao, as National Front chairman who took up with the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, the need for setting up a finance corporation for BCs at the national level. The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, followed it up with various micro-level programmes to 92 castes belonging to BCs. The assistance was extended caste-wise. This apart, residential schools had also been set up for BCs which produced results in excess of State average at the SSC examination.

Mr. Rao said people were in no mood to trust promises of the Congress party.

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Andhra Pradesh