Press Releases Archive

Lok Satta initiative to resolve Political crisis

With normalcy and peace gaining ground gradually in the trouble-torn Telanagana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the State, the Lok Satta is taking the initiative to ascertain public opinion on the political crisis and how an honorable settlement acceptable to all can be hammered out.

Party spokespersons Mr. V.Laxman Balaji, Mrs. K. Geetha Murthy told the details here in a media conference today.

The Lok Satta will carry out the exercise in two phases. In the first phase, three teams comprising three or four members of the party’s Core Committee will visit three districts each for three days in Telangana, excluding Hyderabad. The teams will interact with party leaders and workers in districts and workers in districts on the conflicting demands for forming Telangana State and for keeping the State united, and on the ways of finding a peaceful, acceptable solution.

In the second phase, 30 members of the Core Committee, drawn from all the three regions in the State, will visit Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and Warangal, visit a nearby village, conduct a gram sabha and ascertain people’s views on the political crisis. The same day, they will organize an open forum of discussion in the three district headquarters.

The two-pronged exercise aims at finding out how the interests of the other regions can be taken care of if Telangana State were to be formed and how the problems and aspirations of Telangana are to be addressed if the State were to be kept united.

The Lok Satta Party has all along maintained that not even God can fulfill the rival demands for Telangana formation and an integrated Andhra Pradesh simultaneously. A permanent settlement acceptable to all regions of the State has to be worked out only through negotiations. The Lok Satta Party believes that a win-win solution cannot emerge unless all the stakeholders are prepared to adopt a give-and-take approach. The Lok Satta, therefore, is trying to delineate the broad contours of a possible settlement after discussions with people at the grassroots, and district-level opinion leaders.

The following are the members of teams who will be going round Telangana districts from January 8 to 12:

Adilabad, Warangal and Karimnagar: G. Raj Reddy, M. Satyanarayana, and P. Ravi Maruth

Ranga Reddy and Nizamabad: N. Ravinder, Bandaru Rammohan Rao, Mrs. D. Lakshmi and Mrs. Y. Ramadevi

Khammam, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda: V. Vijayender Reddy, E. Chennaiah and P. Bhaskara Rao

Mr. Y. D. Rama Rao, Mr. Vijayender Reddy and Raj Reddy will organize the 30-member team’s visit to Visakhapatnam on January 19, Kunrool on January 21. and Warangal on January 23.

Mr. V. Ramachandraiah, chairman of the Party’s disciplinary committee, said that he had issued notices to Mr. K. Dharma Reddy, Mr. M. Jaswanth Reddy, Mr. Nagaraju and Mr. Trivedi, asking them to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for abusing and attempting to physically assault colleagues recently at the Party headquarters. Pending their explanation they had been stripped of their responsibilities.

Friday, January 8, 2010 - 15:59

Parties equally to blame for RTC fare hike: Lok Satta

Political parties in the State should share the responsibility with the State Government and the RTC for the hefty increase in fares, said the Lok Satta Party here today.

Talking to the media, party Vice President Y. D. Rama Rao, General Secretary Katari Srinivasa Rao and Secretary Ravi Maruth pointed out that the parties which had indulged in competitive damage to and destruction of buses and disruption of services in the name of rasta rokos and bandhs and forced the hike in fares were indulging in hypocrisy by launching a movement for a rollback of the fares. The parties should realize at least now that it is the common man that has to pay a price ultimately for the destruction indulged in by parties. Political parties should come up with alternative forms of protest to bandhs and rasta rooks.

The Lok Satta leaders underlined that by raising the fares abnormally, the RTC was unwittingly driving the people to switch from public to private transport. Proliferation of private vehicles would merely worsen the already chaotic and clogged transport system in urban areas.

That the RTC Managing Director reportedly decided on hiking fares without taking the Transport Minister and the Chief Minister into confidence mirrored the chaos that had overtaken administration, said the Lok Satta leaders.

The Lok Satta leaders wanted the RTC to withdraw the fare hike and focus on augmenting its revenue by focusing on alternative sources like plugging leakages in cargo and parcel transport.

The Lok Satta Party leaders also took at a dig at parties which vied with one another in fomenting hatred among people on the basis of religion, region, caste and language and turned a blind eye to aspects like education ahd health care which had a great bearing on people’s lives. That students in only 261 of the total 64,860 primary and upper primary schools in Andhra Pradesh are in a position to read and write flawlessly underlined the sorry state of affairs. According to a Rajiv Education Mission study, there are as many as 14 districts with less than 10 good schools. Successive Governments’ criminal negligence accounts for the deterioration in educational standards.

Thursday, January 7, 2010 - 16:59

Politics of Competitive disruption Must end: Dr. JP

“Governance in Andhra Pradesh has slackened in many fields and remains paralyzed in some”, the Lok Satta said today, and added that “if the situation continues like this for some more time it amounts to a Constitutional breakdown.”

Talking to the media, party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said that any Government has to maintain law and order and public security, ensure that development takes place and life goes on an even keel. But in Andhra Pradesh today, the Cabinet has virtually ceased to function and the administration remains paralyzed. The politics of competitive disruption indulged in by most parties in all the regions of the State has done irreparable damage to the interests of all people.

Bandhs, rasta rokos and rail rokos have disrupted marketing activities to the detriment of both consumers and producers. Daily wage earners, vegetable vendors and hawkers have not been able to eke out their precarious livelihood. Indulging in forms of agitation that hurt the ordinary citizen to draw the Government of India’s attention to their respective points of view is nothing but cutting the nose to spite the face.

Dr. JP said that the vast majority of people who would like to lead peaceful harmonious lives have become victims in the parties’ political games. The media and civil society should shed their silence and speak up for the ordinary citizen.

Dr. JP also took exception to threats being hurled against each other by agitators in all the regions. Coercion and violence have no place in a democracy. People should speak to each other and not scream and shout at each other. Rabble rousing should give way to reasoned discourse.

Dr. JP appealed to all parties to help restore peace and normalcy and facilitate a dialogue on the political crisis in the State.

Dr. JP pointed out that licentiousness had characterized the month-long agitation in all regions of the State. Now that the Government of India had initiated the consultation process, all parties and other organizations including the media should desist immediately from promoting hatred and fueling tensions.

He quoted French writer and philosopher Voltaire who said, “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it” to underline that political parties should try to understand each other’s point of view instead of fulminating at each other.

Welcoming the consultation process initiated by the Union Government, Dr. JP said that every one should realize that even Home Minister Chidamabaram is no magician to produce a rabbit out of a hat. Since the demands for carving out a separate Telangana State and keeping the State united could not be simultaneously conceded, a settlement should be arrived at through reasoned discourse.

Dr. JP suggested that the present crisis in Andhra Pradesh should be utilized by the Government of India and national parties to strengthen the third tier of government with devolution of powers and resources on district and local governments. That is the only way in which people’s aspirations can be fulfilled, the country’s unity preserved and good governance ensured. In such a setup, the Government of India and the local Governments will be handling 40 percent of resources each and States, the remainder of 20 percent.

Dr. JP said that the disciplinary committee of the party would go into the behavior of certain party leaders who sought to create trouble at the party headquarters. The party’s constitution clearly spells out that it does not encourage any distinctions based on region and religion and caste and language. Mr. G. Raja Reddy, General Secretary, said that the TRS had no right to demand Dr. JP’s resignation from the legislature. Mr. Katari Srinivasa Rao said there was no truth in reports in certain sections of the media that the party denied its meeting hall to certain party workers. Prior clearance had not been taken for the meeting. Yet, the party allowed the meeting to take place.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - 18:01

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