Date:31/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/31/stories/2007083151770300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Yanamala flays State for price rise

Correspondent

Onion issue had brought down a government, he recalls

TDP regime had controlled prices by market intervention
Sonia flayed for not visiting State after twin blasts

Kakinada: TDP polit bureau member and former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has blamed the Government for the spiralling prices of essential commodities, especially onion, now selling at Rs.20 kg in open market. At a press conference here on Thursday, he said, Governments both in the state and at the centre, had miserably failed in controlling the prices, even after three years of rule. Recalling that the onion price had brought the government down in Delhi a few years ago, he said, the same fate was awaiting the present government at the hustings.

Claiming that the TDP government was able to control the prices by effective market intervention policy, he cited how Rythu Bazars were opened in all the urban areas, eliminating middlemen benefiting both the consumer and the producer. He said the Government was not able to maintain the Rythu bazars properly and moreover disposed of the places to corporate bodies as had happened in Visakhapatnam.

Making a scathing attack on the stance of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on the aftermath of the twin blasts that claimed nearly 43 lives and also on the Mudigonda firing incident, Mr. Ramakrishnudu charged him with taking the issue very casually. “He failed to react, what he ought to have. Except making a flying visit to Lumbini park and Gokul chat, he did nothing to console the victims’ families and he did not bother to visit the hospitals. Now after five days, he says that he was very much moved by the incidents. It must be due to the pressures from high command,” he remarked.

He criticised UPA leader Sonia Gandhi for not visiting the State immediately to console the families of the victims –both of Mudigonda firing and Hyderabad twin blasts. Stating that law and order had failed owing to the downgrading of the police setup to subserve the interests of the ruling party, he said Dr Rajasekhara Reddy was unfit to continue as CM any more.