The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TDP has no right to raise tenders' issue: CPI

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP has no right to raise tenders' issue: CPI

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, NOV. 23. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has lashed out at the Telugu Desam for levelling charges against the ruling Congress Government which is going ahead with its plans to complete pending irrigation projects, though a bit "hastily."

"The TDP has no moral right to speak on the tenders issue. For, people are aware of the hi-tech tender process during the TDP's nine-year rule when contractors formed a sort of syndicate," the CPI State council assistant secretary, K. Narayana, alleged at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Dr. Narayana said the readiness expressed by the World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, to fund irrigation projects and his announcement that the Bank had no objection to free power being given to farmers were indicative of the "sincerity" of the Government.

White paper sought

In this context, Mr. Narayana urged the Government to come out with a white paper on the mode of expenditure of the Rs. 50,000-crore loans obtained by the TDP Government from the World Bank. "To our knowledge, only Rs. 13,000 crores was spent on ongoing projects while over 25 per cent of the amount was spent in the name of education and consultancy charges ," he said.

He asked the Government to take steps to finalise tenders in a transparent manner to avoid criticism from any quarter.

Asserting that the Left parties enter into alliance with any political party only on the basis of their policies, he said the Left was not against the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, as an individual, but was opposed to his policies.

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