Date:30/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/30/stories/2004083011900300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Others

`Sonia's vision will be guiding force'

By Our Staff Reporter

YELLAMANCHILI, AUG. 29. ``The Congress Government is planning to better the lot of the poor and downtrodden in tune with the wish of Sonia Gandhi to bring back the Indiramma era," said the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, at a largely attended public meeting here on Sunday.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy was late by two hours but the huge crowd, half of them the members of the Self-Help Groups, waited patiently. The Chief Minister's day-long programme fell well behind the schedule.

He touched the 42 villages but after addressing the people at a few villages initially he did not stop for more than a couple of minutes at the rest of the villages and skipped programmes like assets distributions and inaugurations and declared that they deemed to have been done. He took off by a helicopter from Kokkirapalli near here well before the light failed and he had been able to do so after inaugurating the building for the Social Welfare residential school.

At the public meeting here, Dr.Reddy, visiting the area for the first time after taking over as Chief Minister, thanked the people for expressing their faith in the Congress in the elections held three months ago and promised to fulfil all their needs.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy slammed the Telugu Desam for criticising the Congress' free power policy. "They are desperate and are hatching a plan to scuttle our good gesture. You must be wary because they may try to increase the load on transformers by encouraging more illegal connections," he said.

The local MLA, UV Ramanamurthy Raju (Kannababu), briefly welcomed the Chief Minister and others. Among those present on the dais were the Minister for Commercial Taxes, Konathala Ramakrishna, MLAs, Gandi Babji and Dharmasree, the DCC president, Balireddy Satyarao, and others.