TDP-BJP combine pro-rich: YSR

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 4. The APCC(I) president, Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has alleged that the TDP-BJP combine is pursing pro-rich policies and cited the rise in prices of commodities used by the common man in contrast to the fall in the prices of luxury goods.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Dr. Reddy, who is nursing a leg injury, said that he would resume the campaign for municipal elections tomorrow and tour extensively the Telangana districts to ``expose the pro-elite character of the TDP-BJP alliance''.

The PCC(I) president resented what he called the ``cheap propaganda'' launched by the TDP that he had abandoned his campaign midway as the Congress(I) was scared of the formidable combination of the TDP and the BJP. He also justified the party's decision not to release the manifesto for the municipal elections, which were fought on local issues. But the TDP president and Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, however, treated the civic polls as a prestigious issue and spent Rs 40 lakhs alone to hire the helicopter for the campaign.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy alleged that the hike in the prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene was withheld only for the sake of municipal elections and a 15 per cent hike in the power tariff was round the corner. If the people voted the TDP-BJP combine, it would amount to endorsing the heavy tax burden.

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Section  : Regional
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