Press Releases Archive

Dr. JP thrashes parties making wild promises to garner votes

Loksatta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today lashed out at the TDP, TRS and YSRCP for making irresponsible promises that ruin the economies of the two emerging States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and bury the future of the youth.

Addressing a media conference, Dr. JP said that these parties do not utter a word in their manifestos on fulfilling their constitutional obligations but make wild promises solely with an eye on garnering votes in the elections now under way.

Dr. JP reeled out facts and figures to drive home the point that the promises costing tens of thousands of crores of rupees can never be fulfilled going by the combined State’s receipts and expenditure.

For instance, the YSRCP promises to deposit Rs.500 a month per student if parents send their children to school and Rs. 700 to Rs.1000 a month for students in colleges. This alone will cost over Rs.13000 crore every year and will do nothing to improve the quality of education.

Dr. JP said the party’s move is devoid of any rationale since there is no problem with enrolment of children in schools. In fact, school enrolment in the 5-10 age group is occasionally even 105 percent as even 11-year-olds happen to be students in some cases. The party that promises the incentive for enrolment in schools is silent on improving the quality of education. Most students in most schools cannot do simple division or multiplication. India occupies the 73rd place among 74 countries in the world for quality of education.

The TDP and the YSRCP have promised loan waivers for self-help groups and the TDP and the TRS for farmers. Roughly, the loans to be written off for the two groups in the united State work out to Rs.70000 crore. Some of these parties’ promises include higher pensions to the aged, widows and physically challenged, additional gas subsidy, construction of houses costing Rs.3 lakh each in 125 square yards, allocation of three acres of cultivable land to each landless family, irrigation facility to one lakh acres in every constituency, generation of 13000 mw of additional power in Telangana and 12 percent reservations for minorities.

Dr. JP pointed out that the united State’s total receipts in 2012-13 including loans amounted to Rs.127000 crore while the expenditure was Rs.129000 crore. The two States will have deficits to start with if the pay revision for staff is considered. How could the upcoming Governments make good their promises against such a backdrop, Dr. JP asked and added that the parties are taking people for a ride with an eye on votes in the coming elections.

Dr. JP asked how minorities could be given 12% reservations as the reservations already in force account for 50 percent, the ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court. How could three acres of land be given to each landless family since land cannot be manufactured in a factory? How could seven hours of power be supplied to the farm sector during the peak load time? Generation of an additional 13000 mw of power and the building of a network for its transmission and distribution will together cost Rs.100000 crore.

Dr. JP regretted that although elections from panchayats to Parliament are taking place within less than two months in Andhra Pradesh, political parties have failed to focus attention on issues that matter most to people like provision of quality education, healthcare, safe drinking water, employment opportunities, good governance, rule of law and election of people with integrity and competence.

The united Andhra Pradesh Government has not constituted village courts although the Government of India has allocated funds. Hyderabad needs at least Rs.7000 crore of investment for improving its drainage, sewerage and drinking water facilities.

Dr. JP also took exception to the YSRCP proposal to refer policy decisions for prior clearance by the High Court or the Comptroller and Auditor General to preempt charges of corruption. He said that B. R. Ambedkar, whose birth anniversary was celebrated today, did not incorporate such a provision in the Constitution. In such a case, judges themselves could be sworn in as Chief Ministers.

Loksatta Party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, Bandaru Rammohan Rao, P. Bhaskara Rao, V. Vijayender Reddy and Dr. Suneetha took part in the media conference.

Monday, April 14, 2014 - 19:10

Dr. JP’s campaign schedule on Monday

Loksatta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, who is contesting for the Lok Sabha from Malkajigiri, will undertake padayatras and road shows in different parts of the constituency on Monday, April 14.

He will garland B. R. Ambedkar’s statue at Bowenpally at 8-00 a.m. on the occasion of his birth anniversary and walk up to Mallareddy Hall. He will open the party’s Ward-I office at 9-30 a.m. and visit Monda Market at 10-30 a.m.

He will conduct a road show at Rasulpura from 4-30 p.m. to 6-00 p.m. and from Krishnanagar to Maredpally from 7-30 p.m. to 9-00 p.m.

In between, he will interact with a women’s group from 6-00 p.m. to 7-30 p.m. at Krishnanagar.

Sunday, April 13, 2014 - 20:38

Loksatta prepared for any inquiry into allegations: Dr.JP

Loksatta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today said that his party is prepared to face any inquiry either by the Election Commission of India or the CBI or Delhi police into allegations being hurled against it in the wake of a sting operation against Mr. Anurag Kejriwal.

In a media statement, Dr. JP pointed out that the party had expelled its Delhi unit President Anurag Kejriwal the moment his inexcusable conduct came to light without going through the motions of an inquiry.

Expressing distress over the concerted moves by certain media sections to besmirch the unsullied image of the Loksatta, Dr. JP said there seemed to be a conspiracy to undermine the credibility of the party on the eve of the general elections.

Dr. JP said the Loksatta, which does not have a single member in Parliament, has had the distinction of ushering in epoch-making reforms in several areas. It will continue its mission to usher in new politics and transform the country undaunted by vested interests’ bid to undercut it.

Dr. JP recalled that in his 34 years of public life, none dared to level any allegation against him even remotely because he is unblemished.

In a statement issued in New Delhi on Saturday, Loksatta Party national General Secretary Surendra Srivastava announced the expulsion of Mr. Anurag Kejriwal from its membership with immediate effect for gross violation of the code of ethics and principles that the party advocates and has scrupulously followed for the past 18 years.

He also announced that the Working Committee and Executive Committee of the Delhi State unit had been suspended and a five-member interim panel of Loksatta's youth leaders has been set up to run the party's affairs until further notice.

Mr. Achyutam Kallani, 29, a banker by profession, will be the convener of the panel. The other members are Mr. Siddharth Panwar, 30, a researcher; Mr. Hemant Chandak, 33, corporate professional, Mr. Dushyant Arora, 26, a lawyer and Mr. Anuj Middha, 26, an entrepreneur. 

Mr. Kejriwal was expelled after a sting operation by a news channel in which he was seen bragging about his ability to influence the party leadership to work for certain vested interests. He also expressed willingness to field dummy candidates in the Delhi Assembly election to undercut other parties and was seen discussing the quantum of funding required for the party's campaign currently under way in Andhra Pradesh. Loksatta Party national President Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan is the frontrunner for the Malkajigiri Lok Sabha seat in Hyderabad.

Mr. Surendra Srivastava said that the party decided to expel Mr. Kejriwal for making false claims and trying to bring the party's name into disrepute. The party is also exploring the possibility of other action against him.

Mr. Kejriwal was earlier asked to resign as the Delhi State President and from the National Steering Committee of the party. The expulsion is in line with the exemplary standards of conduct set by the Loksatta Party in public life. This should send an unambiguous message that the party has absolutely zero tolerance for such acts of indiscretions which seek to strike at the very edifice of high moral standards and basic ideals of the party.

Mr. Surendra Srivastava described as poppycock Mr. Kejriwal's claims of putting up dummy candidates and disrupting parliamentary sessions at the behest of vested interests. He said candidate selection in the Loksatta Party is not done by one individual while the track record of Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan as a legislator in the outgoing Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaks for itself.

“Such acts jeopardize the selfless contributions of Loksatta Party members and volunteers that have made it the pioneer of clean politic. Supporters of the party should rest assured that the party will always act decisively to preserve its character and reputation as the agent of positive change in Indian politics. The Loksatta Party firmly believes that personal integrity is a sine-quo-non for probity in public life.”

Mr. Srivastava further said the Loksatta Party has always supported policies that are in national interest whoever proposed them and would continue to do so. He said that the  Loksatta Party has worked with parties across the spectrum to champion laws that will help clean up the country's polity like those dealing with right to information,, election funding law, candidates’ disclosures, the Lokpal, right to services and the National Judicial Commission.

Mr. Srivastava also said Loksatta Party accepts donations only by cheque and never in cash.

Sunday, April 13, 2014 - 20:30

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