Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

BJP leader tells Chief Minister to shed `media intolerance'

Special Correspondent

Refers to ryots languishing in prisons for not repaying loans

ON A WARPATH: BJP State president B. Dattatreya addressing a press conference in Tirupati on Tuesday.

TIRUPATI: State president of the BJP B. Dattatreya urged Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to develop media-tolerance and take a cue from what the media reports said.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said he is making a specific reference to the reports prominently carried in vernacular dailies about farmers languishing in Kadapa prisons for not repaying their agricultural loans due to a variety of agrarian problems.

He said it is strange that Mr. Reddy, who came to power on a pro-farmer plank, should allow such `repression' against farmers.

He said the Government can not afford to be ruthless and slipshod in its campaign to retrieve all the assigned lands more so when bulk of the 28 lakh acres of assigned lands in the State is found to be in the possession of small and marginal farmers who are tilling the land for last two or three decades.

Dattatreya was also critical of the Government for reportedly trying to allot 1,070 acres of assigned lands to the Jindal Aluminia Refinery in Vizianagaram district and alleged that Tahsildars have already served notice on 95 farmers who are in possession of the said assigned lands.

He also cited in this connection the wholesale rejection of Jindal aluminium plant proposal by farmers at the public hearing held on Monday by the Joint Collector.

It is against this backdrop that Dattatreya wanted the Chief Minister not to be `blind and deaf' to public and the media outcries.

Media, after all mirrors the public opinion and the Government should take it in the right perspective for its policy initiatives, he said.

He also cited in this connection a report published in The Hindu on Tuesday on the Discom serving a notice on the Prakasam Barrage authorities to cough up Rs.82.30 lakh towards the power supplied to the same.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader said the party is constituting a committee with its legislator Kishen Reddy as the head to visit all the districts concerned on a fact finding mission and submit a report, possibly within a week.

Based on the report we will decide the future course of action, he said.

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