APCC media committee chairman and Spokesperson Mohammad Ali Shabbir on Saturday ridiculed Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu’s statement that he would supply free rice to poor if TDP is voted to power in the next elections.
Talking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan, Shabbir Ali said Naidu was playing ‘cheap tricks’ to draw the attention of thepeople in order to come to power at any cost. However, he said people would never trust Naidu’s promises. “Though the people of State rejected Naidu twice in the elections, he did not learn a lesson so far,”he said.
Shabbir Ali said that it was Naidu who increased the price of subsidised rice from Rs 2, started during NTR’s tenure, to Rs 5.50 a kilo. He said that the TDP leader has been promising moon to the people without even realising the financial implications that it would have on the State’s exchequer.
Further, he said that Naidu has no moral right to speak on free power supply scheme as it was his government which killed three farmers in police firing at Basheerbagh when they staged protest against power tariff hike. He said that Naidu, who termed investment in agriculture as a ‘waste’ was now shedding crocodile tears on farmers’ problems in order to get mileage in the elections. However, he said that the TDP would not win a single constituency in the ensuing by-elections.
Congress spokesperson N Tulasi Reddy dismissed the charges of YSR Congress party members that they have supported vote of confidence motion of TDP on farmers issue as the government had adopted anti-farmers measures. He alleged that the YSR Congress group members voted in faouvr of No Trust Motion as they were ‘sold out’ to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s corruption money. (INN)