Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party supremo and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday presided over the party strategy committee meeting where they resolved to fight a “relentless struggle” till the victims of recent cyclone and floods in the Rayalaseema region and Nellore district get justice.
The TDP expressed concern that the cyclone relief had not yet reached the families and the farmers who suffered severe crop and property losses. “It was ‘sheer inefficiency’ on the part of CM Jaganmohan Reddy to say that field level visits would hamper the relief and rescue activities in the flood-hit areas. Whereas, all other chief ministers in the country were visiting to check relief activities in the affected areas in their States,” a press note from the party stated.
On flood management
The TDP leaders demanded a judicial enquiry into the “miserable failure” of the YSRCP government on flood management. “All the deaths in the cyclone-hit areas should be treated as government murders. The input subsidy given to farmers in the TDP rule was not reduced. Over Rs. 1,100 crore of disaster management funds were diverted without paying anything to the flood victims,” they said.
The opposition accused the chief minister of betraying the farmers by not paying a premium towards crop insurance. “The flood-hit farmers won’t be able to get insurance since the state government had not paid its share which resulted in denial of the Central share as well. In the 2020 floods also, the Jagan regime did not pay a premium but told falsehoods in the assembly that it had made the payments. Field level surveys would be held on non-payment of crop insurance premiums,” the press note added.
On AP assembly
The TDP said CM Jagan has turned the assembly into a ‘Kuru Sabha’ which had no respect for women. “The TDP will conduct ‘Gaurava Sabha’ meetings (honour) in all villages and towns to expose the YSRCP’s disrespect for women. The CFMS system is being misused. The TDP opened a separate account for every panchayat to ensure their proper development. But now, Jagan Reddy diverted the panchayat funds given under the 15th Finance Commission,” the party said.
The TDP leader demanded that all these funds should be deposited back into the respective accounts of the panchayat immediately..
On governance
Decrying the “bad management” practice, the TDP meeting condemned the government for bringing pressure on the NTR University of Health Sciences and other universities to deposit their funds in the AP State Finance Services Corporation. “The illegal transfer of funds should be withdrawn. Diversion of funds would bring down the standards at the autonomous institutions like the universities,” the press note said.
The party leaders then demanded that the YSRCP government withdraw its proposal to collect Rs 14,261 crore from the poor families in the name of the one-time settlement (OTS). “The government is illogical and atrocious as it proposed to collect OTS for houses built from 1983 to 2017. The poor families are being forced to pay this though the officials are describing it as not mandatory. The TDP will provide free registrations the moment it comes to power,” the party said.
The TDP leaders then slammed the chief minister for undermining ‘Abhaya Hastham’ scheme meant for supporting DWCRA women in their old age. “The TDP regime provided Rs 2,000 monthly pension under this. For this, DWCRA women got savings of Rs. 2,200 Cr funds in LIC. The Jagan regime has swallowed these funds as well. The government should resolve the problems of employees regarding PRC, DA, pension and CPS,” they demanded.
On elections
The TDP said that it has decided to give importance to all those party leaders and cadres who helped in getting a good vote share in the local body polls. “The village and booth level committees should focus on voter enrollment as the YSRCP was conspiring to create 10,000 to 20,000 bogus voters in each assembly constituency. The Jagan Reddy regime’s false campaigns should be countered effectively at all levels,” they said.