VIJAYAWADA: A selfie video posted by an unemployed plumber before ending his life has sparked a political slugfest in Andhra Pradesh. Polepalli Venkateswarlu (29), who hails from Gorantla outskirts of Guntur city, allegedly killed himself after "rendered jobless" due to scarcity of sand.
The opposition parties lashed out at the YSRCP government for making sand a scarce commodity, while the ruling party refuted the allegation stating that the situation arose due to heavy rains, which have filled all the rivers and canals to the brim.
Though Venkateswarlu had committed suicide on October 2, the controversial video surfaced on Sunday night. "There is no work to do and run the family. Even though I have told family members and others that I will manage somehow, the fact is that there is no job. I am ending my life in despair as I am not in a position to feed my family," he is heard saying in the video.
Venkateswarlu's wife Raasi said both of them were out of work for the past four months and had no idea that he had taken a video before committing suicide.
"We are under severe financial distress To make matters worse, our son fell sick and needs to undergo a surgery,'' she said.
The YSRC government is under fire for its 'failure' to ensure adequate supply of sand, which has hit the state's construction sector Tweeting the video, which went viral,
"Depressed to see workers committing suicide for five months without a job or families starving. The government should wake up at least now and provide compensation to the construction workers, who were rendered jobless due to scarcity of sand," Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu wrote on Twitter along with the video on Monday.
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who called for a march in Visakhapatnam on November 3 against the YSRC government's 'failure' to come to the rescue of the construction workers, appealed to all the opposition parties in the State to wage a united fight for the cause of daily wagers. "The BJP and the Left have already taken up the cause of workers. As responsible political parties, we all should join hands and fight for the lakhs of construction workers. I appeal to all parties to join our proposed march,'' Pawan Kalyan said.
BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana also criticised the ruling party saying that YSRC is only confined to paint the buildings in its party colours. "Labourers are not even getting Rs 150 as daily wages these days. This is the gift YSRC gave to the people who voted 151 MLAs of the party into the Assembly."
However, lashing out at TDP and Jana Sena for their 'malicious propaganda' against the government, YSRC MLA Jogi Ramesh has said people are well aware of the circumstances that led to the scarcity of construction material. "It has become very difficult to mine sand in Krishna and Godavari rivers due to floods and heavy rains. The government have not created artificial scarcity of sand. Will artificial scarcity bring a good reputation to the government?" he said.