The Hindu : CM advanced polls to try his luck: Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

CM advanced polls to try his luck: Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, FEB. 22. Criticising the State Government for advancing the elections to the Assembly, the senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister, N. Janardhana Reddy, on Sunday claimed that the ruling party was left with no other alternative since it was sure of getting defeated if the polls were held as scheduled.

"The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, is using the Alipiri blast as a lame excuse to go for advanced polls. But, the fact is he wants to test his luck by advancing them," he said.

Addressing an impressive public meeting organised by the former Minister, Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru) at Kankipadu here, Mr. Reddy said Mr. Naidu was aware that people were disillusioned with his Government and were prepared to bring it down whenever elections were held.

In a trenchant attack on the TDP, he said a majority of promises made by it during the previous elections were unfulfilled while it was now showering fresh sops. "To cover up his inefficiency in governing the State, the Chief Minister is making statements against the Congress, which lack consistency. First it was the call against naxalites followed by the naxalite links with the Congress and Left. In future, he will not go back in calling the Congress leaders naxalites and kill them in encounters if the TDP comes back to power," he said.

The MP in the dissolved Lok Sabha, Renuka Chowdary, cautioned people, women in particular, against falling prey to the lures offered by the Government to woo them. The attempts were only aimed at getting political mileage. "Was the naxalite issue not there for the past elections? The Government is trying to hide its inefficiency and is even offering weapons to the people," she said.

She reminded people the `undemocratic' manner in which the TDP Government tried to suppress agitations launched by farmers, anganwadi workers and other sections seeking redressal of their grievances.

The Krishna District Congress Committee president, M. Buddha Prasad, the senior Congress leaders -- P. Venkata Rao, P. Venkateswara Rao, and Chanumolu Venkat Rao -- also spoke. Mr. Rajasekhar presided over the meeting.

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