Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Janmabhoomi: TDP joins issue with Cong.

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD July 18. The TDP has reacted sharply to the attack on Janmabhoomi by the Congress leader, Mani Shankar Aiyer, saying it demeaned his position and exposed how the Congress was intolerant to the good name the State Government got from the programme.

A noble programme which was started with people's participation in 1997, Janmabhoomi had earned the appreciation of Constitutional heads, the President and the Governor, but the Congress, especially its leaders from Delhi, had always indulged in running it down with a political motive, the TDP official spokesman and MP, C. Ramachandraiah, told presspersons here on Friday.

He called termed baseless Mr. Aiyer's remarks that nodal officers had a key role to play in Janmabhoomi and said they were only facilitators of the programme. They were appointed to create a nodal agency to coordinate with all Government departments in the execution of services to people. They had no say nor powers.

Refuting Mr. Aiyer's claim that Janmabhoomi was unconstitutional or that the TDP lost in the last local body polls on account of the programme, Mr. Ramachandraiah said it was the Congress which was rejected by voters in the 1999 polls because the party wanted to scrap the programme if it was returned to power.

How could it be unconstitutional when the programme was implemented in a different name in Congress-ruled States, he asked.

Referring to Mr. Aiyer's claim that the gram panchayats were slighted by Janmabhoomi, the TDP leader sought at least one example of the bodies being driven to that state. In fact, it was Mr. Aiyer who did a great injustice to the local bodies by opposing a unanimous resolution passed by the State Assembly recommending a three-tier system of panchayat raj institutions. The Congress leadership did not allow the resolution to be taken up in Parliament bowing to his pressure. Mr. Aiyer's contention was that Rajiv Gandhi, who had pioneered the five-tier system, would turn in his grave if the institutions reverted to three-tier system.

Mr. Ramachandraiah said the TDP Government was committed to devolution of powers to local bodies. Seventeen duties had already been transferred to them while a Cabinet sub-committee had decided to transfer the remaining 12 duties. How many powers were transferred to the bodies in Congress-ruled States, he asked.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Students protest fee hike
• Five tribals die of diarrhoea in Khammam district
• Two viral fever deaths in Vizianagaram
• A.P. clueless as viral fever rules the roost
• 'AIDS victim died due to terminal illness'
• Parties ask delimitation panel to spare mandals
• Big relief for small traders
• Janmabhoomi: TDP joins issue with Cong.

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu