TRS charges absurd, says Lok Satta
The Lok Satta Party this evening rebutted point-by-point every allegation made by TRS candidate Sudarshan Rao against the Lok Satta Party and its President Dr Jayaprakash Narayan in a TV channel interaction with Assembly candidates in the Kukatpally constituency today. Following are the allegations and Lok Satta Party’s responses:
1. That we talk a lot and do little.
Lok Satta’s response: There could be nothing farther from truth than this absurd allegation. If there is any party in the country with absolute clarity and conviction on the nature of our problems and precise solutions, it is only the Lok Satta. Just to name a few, the following are some of the significant achievements of the Lok Satta:
- Right to Information law
- Political funding law
- Citizens’ charters in municipalities
- Candidate assets’ disclosure law
- Campaign against criminalization of politics which succeeded in arresting the entry of new candidates with criminal record.
- Campaign for empowerment of local governments which drew the support of 1 crore people
- At the forefront of debate on political and governance reforms in the country
2. What has Dr. JP done before and what does he intend to do for the constituency?
Dr.JP’s record as an IAS officer in different parts of Andhra Pradesh is well known. He has successfully rehabilitated the thousands of families displaced by the Vizag steel plant. As Collector, he bought 160,000 acres under irrigation through lift irrigation schemes in Prakasam district with very little help from the Government. He successfully turned around the AP State Co-operative Bank.
Unlike other candidates who do not have any agenda, Dr.JP has a precise plan for the Kukatpally constituency, which includes the following:
- Ensuring consistent supply of safe drinking water to all areas
- Comprehensive plan to tackle drainage problem
- A massive housing plan to allow tens of thousands of people living in slums to live with dignity
- Ensuring that every child has access to quality education from 1st to 12th grade
- Ensuring that every citizen has access to quality and free healthcare
- A massive re-skilling program to train the unemployed
3. That Dr. JP will be inaccessible to the people of the constituency
This is a ridiculous allegation coming from the conventional parties who are available only to goondas and land grabbers. Yes, Dr. JP will not be available to land grabbers and goondas. But he will be available to every citizen of the constituency 24hrs a day. He is the only District Collector in probably the country’s history who made himself available at all hours of the day to the common man. Even as a Secretary to the Chief Minister he made himself available at all times to discuss genuine civic issues. But apart from that we also intend to open a citizen service centre on a permanent basis for every division in the constituency, to assist the citizens obtain a range of civic services
4. Assuming that Dr. JP gets elected, what can he accomplish as a single MLA ?
First and foremost, we are going to win more seats than the TRS. A single MLA from the Lok Satta is equivalent to 100 MLAs from other parties, given our credibility and sense of purpose.
5. Where is social justice in the Lok Satta?
None of these candidates has any clue of this term ‘Social Justice’’; even if it is construed very narrowly only in the sense of nominating candidates, our record speaks for itself:
Out of the 249 candidates nominated by the Lok Satta, 88 are BCs, 42 SCs, 15 STs, 10 minorities, 28 women and one is physically challenged.
Out of the 33 MP candidates 7 are BCs, 5 SCs, 2 STs, 2 minorities and 4 women
More importantly a majority of the candidates nominated are from a modest background as opposed to other parties who have nominated only candidates who can afford to spend crores of rupees.