TDP stooping low, charges Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party said today it was not interested in indulging in a slanging match with the TDP which had stooped so low as to make scurrilous allegations against the Lok Satta and its leader Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan brushing aside all facts.

Party spokesmen Katari Srinivasa Rao and V. Laxman Balaji told the media that the TDP was repeating its baseless charges ad nauseam, without taking cognizance of the replies given by the Lok Satta. To cite just one instance, they recalled that Dr. JP had lent his services to all parties and leaders who wanted to do something good for the country. He joined the National Advisory Council constituted by the UPA Government, and not by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. He had the privilege and opportunity of serving on a number of panels constituted by the earlier NDA Government also. More significantly, he was a member of the Governance Committee formed by the Chandrababu Naidu Government itself as part of its mission to draw up a Vision 2020 program.

The leaders regretted that instead of entering into an honest and public debate with Dr. JP on all issues raised by him and his party, the TDP was making personal attacks on Dr. JP. That the TDP is trying to find excuses for avoiding a public debate is evident to everybody.

The Lok Satta has, therefore, decided to not to pay the TDP back in kind and instead, focus its attention on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. The party today released a pamphlet comprising its agenda for the GHMC. The Lok Satta Party makes five promises in its manifesto for the GHMC elections. They 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 under which failure to attend to a public grievance in a specified period invites 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.
• Better traffic management with improving public transport system and provision of footpaths and free flow of traffic

The Lok Satta spokesmen underlined: “We have the clarity of purpose, determination, competence and integrity to deliver on our promises.” They appealed to people with integrity and leadership qualities to come forward to fight the elections on the Lok Satta platform. They said the Lok Satta’s slogan is going to be “Seeti bajao; city bachao” (Blow the whistle and save the city)