Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

CM `subverting' Constitution: Aiyer

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD July 17. In a sharp attack on Janmabhoomi, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer on Thursday accused the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, of "subverting'' the Constitution by denying the local bodies their rights.

Speaking at a convention of the APCC Panchayat Raj and Rural Development cell, the AICC in charge of training camps, also charged Mr Naidu with `infiltrating' the local bodies with "government agents'' in the form of nodal officers. "While the officials are expected to work under the elected bodies, the nodal officers are deciding the priorities," he said demanding that the programme be scrapped and the local bodies given more powers.

Instead of entrusting the works to the local bodies, the Government is packing habitation committees in rural areas and neighbourhood committees in urban areas with TDP members and the funds are being utilised by them, which is leading to large-scale corruption, he said. The CLP leader, Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy, criticised the Government for making sarpanches responsible for the deaths due to viral fevers while denying them the required funds for taking up sanitation works. "The Chief Minister takes responsibility for all the good things and passes the blame to Opposition parties for whatever is bad," he said.

Addressing a press conference later, Mr Aiyer said that the Chandrababu Naidu Government should in fact be dismissed for its gross violation of the Constitutional themes in the name of Janmabhoomi. While it was the duty of the Centre to invoke Article 356, unfortunately, the present political situation was such that the TDP would pull down the Central Government the moment action was initiated against it. In view of this, Mr Aiyer called upon the Congress leaders to approach courts and file Public Interest Litigations against the Government. Asked about the participation of the Congress leaders in the programme, he said since the programme was related to the people, the Congress had to participate in it. But participation in Janmabhoomi did not mean that the party endorsed the programme.

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