Press Releases Archive

Involve elected representatives in Consultations: Dr. JP

The Lok Satta Party today welcomed the Government of India decision to initiate consultations on the conflicting demands for the formation of a separate Telangana State on the one hand and for keeping the State intact and integrated on the other.

“There is no alternative to discussions for arriving at a settlement acceptable to all sections of people and all regions since it is humanly impossible to accommodate the two demands simultaneously,” said Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan here in a statement.

Dr. JP pointed out that the consultations should not be limited to political parties because they had exposed their crass opportunism by reneging on their pledged word and plunging the State into avoidable turmoil.

The Lok Satta President suggested that the Government of India take the views of elected representatives (MPs and MLAs) and civil society organizations also to hammer out a settlement that meets the concerns and aspirations of people in all regions of the State.

Now that the consultation process has been set in motion, all political parties and other organizations should immediately put an end to all forms of agitation in streets and return to the table for an honest, objective, rational and pragmatic discussion. Constitutional democracy dictates that disputes be resolved through sincere dialogue and not violent confrontations, he added.

Dr. JP hoped that people of all regions in the State would emerge victorious in the New Year and set an example to others in leading harmonious lives. He recalled that unlike other parties the Lok Satta had always practiced what it had advocated and earned people’s esteem for its ethics-based politics. In the New Year, it would focus on enrolling members and strengthening the organization.

Thursday, December 31, 2009 - 16:19

Don’t be swayed by day’s headlines, Dr. JP counsels party leaders

Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today counseled party cadres not to set their agendas going by the day’s newspaper headlines or hourly news bulletins on 24-hour news channels.

Addressing a meeting of party candidates who contested the 2009 Assembly elections and party leaders from districts, Dr. JP said true leadership lies in leading people and not being swayed by momentary passions. A political party should behave like a compass and not as a weather-wane.

The Lok Satta Party, he made it clear, did not view the current agitations for and against Telangana as a fundamental issue. A threat to freedom or secularism could be a fundamental issue but the formation of Telangana or keeping the State united was just a political, administrative arrangement. It is true that people are swayed by sentiment on both sides. But a mature political party should not be swayed by agitations carried on by a vocal minority to whichever region it belonged to. It should reflect calmly on the repercussions of any stand it might take.

Dr. JP refuted criticism in certain quarters that he had undertaken the Delhi mission as part of a secret agenda. The Lok Satta does not have a private agenda that is different from its public agenda. All that he had suggested to Central leaders was that peace, order and sanity should be restored as a top priority. He had told Central leaders that Delhi, having taken a decision on Telangana, could not resile from its stand even as it could not ride roughshod over Andhra Pradesh by forcibly imposing its will. A just solution would emerge only when the interests and aspirations of people in all the regions were considered. Discussions would narrow down differences and open the way for a settlement acceptable to all.

The Lok Satta would endorse whatever settlement that emerges after such wide-ranging consultations, Dr. JP said.

Meanwhile, the party would send a team comprising representatives of the three regions and representing all districts would go round district headquarters and municipalities and municipal corporations in the State, organize discussion forums and try to ascertain what their problems were and how the division of the State or failure to divide it would help them. The team will also organize gram sabhas in select villages.

During the day-long meeting the participants divided themselves into groups and discussed the party’s stand on the current political crisis as well as the action program the party should undertake.

Monday, December 28, 2009 - 18:41

Lok Satta appeals for restoration of peace

The Lok Satta Party today appealed to people of all regions in the State to give up all forms of agitation like fasts, bandhs and rasta and rail rokos, restore peace and normalcy and create conditions for a healthy and negotiated settlement on the political crisis in the State.

Talking to the media in the wake of the Delhi decision on the demands for the formation of a separate State and for keeping the State intact, party spokesmen Mr.Katari Srinivasa Rao, Mr.Y.D. Rama Rao, Mr.P.Ravi Maruth, Mr.V.Vijayender Reddy appealed to the media to pay a positive and creative role and promote amity among people of different regions in the State. Political parties and their leaders should refrain from making provocative statements and resorting to abuse and invective against each other all of which would merely undermine the parties’ credibility and complicate the situation. The political parties and leaders should ensure their members did not indulge in any acts that would harm the larger interests of the State.

Pending a negotiated settlement, the Government of India should initiate interim measures that address the concerns and aspirations of people in different regions of the State and facilitate the process of dialogue among people and parties of different regions in the State.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 - 18:06

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