Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Chiru cornered on nuke deal

HYDERABAD: The Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi found himself on a sticky wicket when he said that while he was inspired to enter politics by former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a man who favoured the Indo-US nuclear deal, the party per se was “not exactly supportive of it.”

At a press conference here on Sunday, he was responding to a question on how his party had participated in an anti-nuclear deal rally even as he claimed to draw political inspiration from Dr. Kalam, a strong supporter of the accord.

“Dr. Kalam is a great scientist and only expressed his support from a macro perspective. He cannot talk about the smaller details like a politician because he is a statesman,” Mr Chiranjeevi said, apparently to avoid an elaborate discussion.

Blaming successive Governments for failing to come to the rescue of suffering weavers, he said only a permanent solution would help improve their lot and stop suicides. If a long-term solution were in place, the three weavers would not have ended their lives in Sircilla on September 27, he said and regretted that instead of devising ways of helping them, people’s representatives, specially those of the Congress, were throwing challenges at him.

The actor-politician said the PR was interacting with experts to put together a draft policy paper on how it would deal with the situation. They would come up with firm plans to rescue weavers in the short-term and also provide long-term solutions to improve their condition. He appealed to weavers to be brave and not to take the extreme step of suicide. “You have the right to demand a better life from the Government. Death is not the answer,” he said.

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