Press Releases Archive

Andhra Pradesh Ministers are not merely showing disrespect to the Chief Minister by skipping meetings convened by him but are also letting down people who elected them to power by devoting their time and effort to succession issues, charged the Lok Satta Party here today.

Talking to the media, party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, P.Ravi Maruth and Mrs.Y. Ramadevi said it was understandable that the untimely and gruesome death of a strong leader like Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy caused vacuum in the ruling party.

Since governance could not come to a standstill, the ruling party rightly chose one of their leaders as the Chief Minister who in turn chose his Ministers. Having taken oath of office and secrecy, the Ministers are expected to render justice to the portfolios entrusted to them.

Instead, the Lok Satta leaders said the Ministers were endlessly engrossed in power struggle and succession battle and in the process neglecting many grave problems like the swine flu confronting the State. While nobody would question the right of the ruling party to elect its leader, the ruling party should also ensure that administration and governance did not come to a standstill.

The government and public office are about promoting public good, not for private gain. The people do not exist for leaders and governments, parties and government exist for people. This simple truism has eluded the ruling party.

Caught up in crisis, both the traditional parties in Andhra Pradesh are not in a position to resolve burning problems like rising prices, growing unemployment and spiraling farmers’ suicides, charged the Lok Satta Party here today.

Briefing the media on the two-day deliberations of the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), party leaders G. Malyadri, Bhisetty Babji and Chennupati Wajir said that the two personality-oriented parties made extension of subsidies and concessions as the centerpiece of their policies, for want of long-term strategies. The demise of Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy threw the Congress into a greater crisis.

The party leaders appealed to people to support the Lok Satta, which alone had the competence and commitment to resolve people’s problems with well-conceived policies.

The PAC also resented Congress Party legislators focusing their entire attention on finding a successor to Dr. YSR and ignoring swine flu, which is playing havoc with people. Nothing illustrated Government’s complacency better than the Health Minister skipping a meeting called to discuss swine flu.

The party decided to celebrate its third anniversary on October 11 in Hyderabad.