TDP for national debate on free power supply

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 22. The TDP will seek a national debate on the feasibility of supplying power free of cost to farmers during the 40-day long Parliament session beginning on Monday.

It will raise the issue when the Electricity Bill 2000 on power sector reforms is taken up by both Houses because it feels that various parties like the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Janata Dal in Karnataka and the Congress in AP have been promising free power before the elections. Although power is a State subject, the party wants Parliament to debate how far such promises are justified.

The TDP president, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, held a meeting with his party floor leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Mr. K. Yerran Naidu and Mr. A. Raj Kumar, Mr. Umareddi Venkateswarlu, MP, the party's politburo member, Mr. T. Devender Goud and others to discuss the strategy for the monsoon session. The TDP is opposed to free power supply on the ground that it was unfeasible and an antithesis to power sector reforms.

The party has decided to adopt a positive stand on the Vajpayee- Musharraf summit at Agra in the larger interests of the nation putting up a show of solidarity. The discussion in Parliament should pave the way for evolving guidelines to help the Government in future negotiations with Pakistan.

Mr. Venkateswarlu told reporters that the TDP favoured good relations with neighbours. He said the TDP, like all political parties, had solidly supported Mr. Vajpayee's initiative in breaking the thaw in Indo-Pak relations. It was now up to these parties to back the Prime Minister and help him chart out the road map for the future of relations between the two nations.

On the UTI scam, the TDP favoured a thorough enquiry into the culpability of top officials but had an open mind about the nature of the probe - whether by the JPC or the CBI. However, it was emphatic in its view that Government should safeguard the interests of small investors and take Parliament into confidence about how it proposed to do so.

Taking a dim view of the AIADMK Government's action in arresting two Union Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T.R. Baalu, the party said this was an unhealthy trend. There was no place for personal or political vendetta in present day politics when different parties were in power at the Centre and in States.

The party would oppose any attempt by the Congress to raise the Tehelka tape episode again since a Commission of Enquiry was already looking into it. Moreover, a lot of time had been wasted in the previous Parliament session.

Mr. Venkateswarlu said the party would press for a thorough debate on dealing with foodgrain surplus and fixing minimum support prices well ahead of the kharif procurement season. Last year, farmers in the State suffered because the Centre's responses came after many of them had disposed off their stocks.

The Centre must speedily clear the huge buffer stock of foodgrain, some of it already rotting or unfit for human consumption, to make available godown space for new arrivals from November onwards. The TDP would also demand a change in guidelines for calamity relief assistance from the Centre and enhancement of the aid.

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