TDP readies for Andhra, Telangana battles; on agenda: Non-fulfilment of promises during bifurcation

The meeting of the Politburo was held at the party office in Hyderabad after eight years. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the TDP built a new headquarters in Guntur district’s Mangalgiri, near Vijayawada, and the Politburo meetings were held there in the last eight years.

TDP’s Andhra Pradesh president Kinjerapu Atchen Naidu said the Centre failed to implement the promises made to both the states during the reorganisation, including the construction of a steel plant in Bayyaram, a railway coach factory in Kazipet in Telangana, a Girijan University, and funds for backward regions. He said the Politburo focused on 17 topics of which 13 are issues from Andhra Pradesh and the rest from Telangana.

The party said it had resolved to organise its “Mahanadu” conclave in Rajahmundry in May. Naidu said the Politburo had decided to set up three committees: one for overseeing arrangements for “Mahanadu”, the second to work on a manifesto, and the third, for making arrangements for the centenary celebrations. Atchen Naidu said these panels would tour the two states to gather public opinion on the functioning of the party.

The TDP leader said the party would demand both the governments of Andhra and Telangana to erect statues of Dr Babu Jagjivan Ram and would hit the streets if the government does not respond positively.

“The party has resolved several problems that were haunting the Telugu people for decades and there is every need that the present-day youth should know how the TDP was formed and its 41-year-long journey,” Naidu said, adding that its main aim was to see people be treated equally irrespective of their economic status. The Politburo, he said, had decided to allocate 40 per cent of its seats in both states to the youth.

The TDP said the party was in an upbeat mood since its victories in the Andhra Legislative Council polls for graduates’ constituencies and MLA-quota Council seats, Naidu said. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and other leaders of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) were hitting out at the TDP in frustration, he added. Naidu asked ruling party leaders how much the YSRCP had offered to the four MLAs who joined the YSRCP after getting elected from the TDP.

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The TDP’s Andhra chief said farmers are the worst-affected in both the Telugu-speaking states and appealed to the ruling parties in both states not to ignore the farming sector. Observing that the TDP’s demands that some outdated guidelines be ignored for the welfare of farmers, Naidu said the Politburo had decided to demand amendments to certain pieces of legislation. The Politburo also discussed the promises the Telangana government made to the people, including two-bedroom houses, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, reservations and three-acre land for the landless, according to Naidu.