TDP rule a saga of broken promises: YSR

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MAY 24. The fortnight-long hectic campaigning for the byelections for the two Assembly constituencies -- Bhongir and Chevella -- ended at 5 p.m. on Wednesday with the main rivals in the fray, the TDP and the Congress, organising impressive rallies in the urban centres of the two constituencies.

Polling will take place on May 26 and electronic voting machines are being used in both constituencies. Counting is to be taken up on May 28 and results are expected the same day.

The two parties have taken up the contest prestigiously. The Chief Minister, Mr.N. Chandrababu Naidu, was the star campaigner for the TDP while the APCC president and the leader of the Opposition, Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was among the senior leaders to canvass support for the Congress.

The byelection in Bhongir is caused by the death of A. Madhava Reddy in a bomb attack by naxalites while Chevella fell vacant following the death of P.Indra Reddy in a road accident. A feature of the contest is that the wives of the two leaders are fighting to inherit the constituencies represented by their late husbands.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy rounded off the Congress campaign with a call to the people to ``teach a lesson to the TDP in the byelections for betraying you.'' Addressing well-attended meetings at Shamshabad, Moinabad, Chevella and Shankarpalli, he said the Chief Minister ``broke'' all election promises he made on the eve of last elections eight months ago and the poor people were particularly let down by the hike in the price of subsidised rice and kerosene.

Mrs. Sabita Reddy, who participated in the election rallies along with Dr. Reddy and addressed meetings, exhorted party workers to ``thwart the attempts of the ruling party to rig the polls.'' Her appeals for support evoked a good response from the people. She referred to the TDP deploying a large number of leaders, including Ministers and MLAs in the constituency and alleged that all kinds of inducements were being offered to the voters.

The PCC president said the byelection results might not alter the power equilibrium in the State nor would they threaten the position of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu. But the TDP, which had broken poll promises and caused hardship to the people, especially the poorer sections, by increasing the price of rice and other essential commodities, should be given ``shock treatment,'' he said.

By way of answering Mr. Naidu's criticism that the Congress would not be of any service to people, Dr. Reddy said that his party, being the main Opposition, would not shirk the responsibility of exposing the ``misrule of the TDP.''

He said the promise made by the Congress to provide power free of cost to farmers was relevant any day and it would be implemented whenever the party is voted to power. But the TDP, on the other hand, was preparing ground for a hefty hike in power tariff.

The PCC president said the Chief Minister was now blaming the Centre for the hike in the rice price ``but never told the people that the welfare schemes of the TDP were linked to the issue price of the Government of India.'' Similarly, other welfare schemes like Deepam were watered down or shelved.

Dr. Reddy said Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was an embodiment of ``political opportunism.'' The State was mortgaged to the World Bank. The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were devaluing the lives of farmers by making derisive comments on the suicides in the drought-hit areas. The TDP defeat in the byelections would be a tit for tat, he remarked. It would checkmate the ``undemocratic manner'' in which the Chief Minister was functioning, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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