Press Releases Archive
Lok Satta to rope in opinion makers
The Lok Satta Party plans to identify at least 100 influential opinion makers in every Assembly constituency and enlist them as honorary members by invitation.
The party, which conducted a three-day intensive review of its performance in the 2009 elections by interacting with the contestants, came to the conclusion that there was an enormous gulf between the public esteem it enjoyed and the votes it polled.
Disclosing this at a media conference, Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said the challenge before the Lok Satta is formidable in that it has to operate amidst a hostile and corrupt political and electoral system to translate its support base into votes.
Dr. JP said that for the first time in a generation the middle classes have realized that politics is a necessity and noble endeavor and owned up the Lok Satta Party and its agenda as their own.
Transformation in any society, Dr. JP, said was possible only when the middle classes, the media and influential opinion makers joined hands. With the middle classes already on its side, the Lok Satta has to associate the media and influential opinion makers in its mission to transform India. Dr. JP hoped that the media, as a moral instrument, would in the long run identify itself with the interests and aspirations of the middle classes. The real challenge lay in providing space to public opinion makers with ability and influence. The Lok Satta would identify such people and enlist them as honorary members.
The party identified deficiencies in leadership, organization and resources as responsible for its poor electoral performance. The party needed leaders of quality and integrity, clean money to run honest politics and a robust organization. To address all the issues together, the party decided to create an institutional mechanism.
The party plans to have three types of members. The most important category is the executive membership. It is open to all citizens with a good personal track record. They pay an annual membership fee of Rs.1000 or Rs.100 a month. They will have the right to contest at every level in organizational elections. They will also be entrusted with the task of identifying candidates to contest to elected offices.
The other two types of members are primary members and associate members. Primary members pay a fee of Rs.100 for three years and enjoy the right to vote in village and mandal organizational elections in rural areas and ward/divisional elections in urban areas. Associate members pay a fee of Rs.10 and enjoy the right to vote in party elections at the local level.
Dr. JP said that honorary members enlisted by the party would enjoy all the privileges of executive members.
The revamping of the organization has been so conceived that it facilitates mobilization of resources from members and emergence of leaders, said Dr. JP.
Dr. JP invites the brightest to Contest GHMC elections
The Lok Satta Party today appealed to the brightest citizens in Hyderabad to take active interest in civic affairs by contesting the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
“View the ensuing elections as a golden opportunity to transform our city for good and not as a political exercise”, Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said here.
“It is a disgrace to all of us that people should go through the indignity of living amidst overflowing sewers or die of drinking water.”
Dr. JP recalled that many stalwarts of the freedom struggle cut their teeth in politics by taking part in civic affairs and subsequently emerged as national leaders.
The Lok Satta, he said, has finalized a sharply defined agenda for transforming the city in the next five years.
The five promises the party is making are:
- Supply of safe drinking water in all colonies and bastis which do not have the facility now with the installation of reverse osmosis plants
- Implementing a citizen’s charter through a call centre, under which failure to attend to a public grievance in a specified period invites a Rs.100 per day penalty on the GHMC
- Identification and resolution of problems basti-colony wise and implementation of a division agenda in three phases – 100 days, one year and five years respectively.
- Devolution of GHMC funds at the rate of Rs.2 crore for each division every year, so that an elected divisional committee could spend it on attending to pressing local problems
- Integration of the functioning of the GHMC, Metrowater and Urban Development Authority
Dr. JP said the Lok Satta is keen on fielding candidates of integrity and leadership qualities and appealed to the younger generation eager to contest the elections to contact the Lok Satta Party headquarters (Tel: 23231818) or its call center (40405050) with their bio data. They are also welcome to email it to the GHMCCandidates@loksatta.org. The aspiring candidates will be screened and interviewed by a committee once the Government finalizes the reservation of wards.
Dr. JP appealed to the State Election Commission to honor its commitment to the High Court by ensuring there is a gap of at least a month between the finalization of wards’ reservation and the election notification. The parties need the time to choose candidates in a transparent and democratic manner. He also requested the Election Commission to include ‘whistle’ among free symbols. The Lok Satta would like to contest on the ‘whistle’ symbol with which the party has been identified.
2014 belongs to the Lok Satta, Asserts Dr. JP
If the Lok Satta Party sticks to its values without any compromise, the year 2014 definitely belongs to it, asserted party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan here today. “And the political calendar too favors the fledgling party”.
Addressing party people who contested the 2009 elections, Dr. JP said the Lok Satta is here to stay and determined to fight for transformation in people’s lives, however arduous struggle is going to be. “People are ready for real change and it will happen in 2014 (when the Assembly elections are due again) going by the winds of change blowing across the State.
Party spokesmen V. Laxman Balaji and Mohd. Ishaq Khan gave this information to the media today.
Although vast numbers of people admired the party in the 2009 elections, they stopped short of endorsing it. “The months and years to come are a testing time for us. People will keenly watch whether the Lok Satta sticks to its values or compromises on them to garner a few seats in elections, like other parties.”
He recalled that a survey conducted by a TV channel immediately after the 2009 elections were out showed that 96 percent of the respondents viewed the Lok Satta Party as an alternative to both the Congress and the TDP, mirroring the high hopes the people had of the Lok Satta.
Dr. JP pointed out that the political calendar too favored the Lok Satta in that elections scheduled for various local bodies would provide a golden opportunity to mobilize public support. After elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, elections to municipal councils will take place in 135 towns accounting for almost 150 Assembly constituencies. Thereafter, elections to panchayati raj bodies would take place. If the party made good use of the local body elections, facing the 2014 elections would be an easy task, said Dr. JP.
Dr. JP reiterated that none need to make great sacrifices to build up the party. It was enough if they devoted a little part of their time, increased party membership and invited and encouraged competent people to take up leadership. He wished politicians in Andhra Pradesh had emulated Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and leader of the Opposition L. K. Advani who apologized to each other for election-eve bitter exchanges and agreed to let bygones be bygones.