Andhra Pradesh

Congress refutes TDP charges

Special Correspondent

`byelection will be one of the fairest'

HYDERABAD: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has refuted Telugu Desam allegations that it had used money and liquor liberally in Penukonda to seek votes.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the Commercial Taxes Minister, K. Ramakrishna, the CLP secretary, E. Pratap Reddy, and the Executive member, V. Vasanth Kumar, said the Penukonda byelection would go down in history as one of the fairest elections. In fact, it was the TDP men who threatened the voters apart from distributing money and liquor in large quantities, they said. The TDP leaders with the help of naxalites had threatened the Congress agents not to sit in the booths.

EC decision welcomed

They said contrary to the claims of the TDP, three was not a single instance of the ruling party flouting the election norms nor did it misuse official powers. The TDP was used to such practices and it had bent all rules in the byelections held during its tenure. They welcomed the decision of the Election Commission to deny entry to outsiders and the stringent measures taken to prevent malpractice. Such measures were unheard of under the TDP rule, they said.

The criticism of the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, that the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was not pro-farmer was ridiculous, they said. Mr. Naidu had no business to talk about Dr. Reddy or about farmers as he vehemently pursued anti-farmer policies, they added. The TDP's policies had completely ruined the rural economy.

The charge that the Government did not help the chilli farmers was also wrong as the Government had spent Rs.70 crores on market intervention last year to help chilli farmers. This year too it intervened and ensured a good price. Farmers were a happy lot under the Congress rule because of measures initiated in their favour, they said.

The Chief Electoral Officer, M. Narayana Rao, has expressed happiness over the Penukonda byelection passing off peacefully despite the areas factious background. The polling was not only incident-free but also intensive, he said.

Mr. Rao was also delighted that there was no "flood of complaints and fax messages" from political parties on the polling day in contrast to the past. "This is the result of the hard work and home work done at every level," he told The Hindu .

Electronic voting machines developed trouble only at three places and they were immediately rectified, he said. Two cases of attempts to distribute "cheap liquor" came to light at Kurubavandlapalli and Patarlapalli. Two persons were arrested and liquor seized.

The repoll, if any, at any polling station will be held on Saturday. The results will be announced on Sunday.

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