Lok Satta Party decides to contest By-elections for four seats
It has named Mr. Allu Ramesh Reddy (37) as its candidate from Ongole and Mr. Bommisetty Venkata Ramana popularly known as Babu (35) from Rayadurg.
The leaders said the party would consider fielding candidates from Narasannapet, Payakaraopet, Ramachandrapuram, Pattipadu, Yemmiganur and Parkal Assembly seats and Nellore Lok Sabha seat and take a decision within a week.
The Lok Satta Party would be fielding Mr. Ashwin Mahesh in the election to the Karnataka Legislative Council from Bengaluru graduates' constituency and Mr. Surendra Srivastava in the election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Mumbai graduates' constituency.
Dr. JP said the Lok Satta Party has decided to work with the Left parties for the replacement of the present first-past-the-post electoral system by a proportional representation system. Dr. JP said the Lok Satta Party would be meeting the newly elected CPI General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy soon to take the idea of proportional representation forward. The Lok Satta would work with Left parties to fight for empowerment of people through decentralization.
Replying to a question, Dr. JP indicated that the Lok Satta Party would welcome the prospect of working with the Left parties for presenting an alternative to the Congress and the Telugu Desam.
Dr. JP pointed out that the people are looking for a credible alternative to the traditional parties. Both the BJP and the Congress had suffered a serious setback in Assembly elections in North India and the Congress and the TDP in the Assembly by-elections in Andhra Pradesh. The situation is ripe for momentous changes in Indian politics, he added.
Dr. JP said that the party would launch strong movements on two burning issues – corruption and liquor policy. The party would fight for constitution of a strong Lokayukta, independent Anti Corruption Bureau, and establishment of special courts for trying the corrupt. It demanded that the Government scrap the present system of auctioning liquor shops and take over liquor sales with a view to restricting liquor consumption through limited outlets.
Replying to a question, Dr. JP said that the strong movement for the formation of a separate Telangana State cannot be ignored in a democracy. However, in a federal set-up a solution should be hammered out in a cordial manner. The Lok Satta will work for such a comprehensive and harmonious solution and welcome the creation of a Telangana State as part of such a solution
Mr. Varma said that the party would conduct organizational elections at the district and State levels in the next three to four months.