HYDERABAD: Brushing aside the TRS government’s claim of making Telangana a revenue surplus state, Telugu Desam Party state president L Ramana on Tuesday asserted that after the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, Telangana emerged as the richest state because of the policies initiated by the previous TDP government led by N Chandrababu Naidu. He added that the present K Chandrasekhar Rao-led state government had pushed the state into a debt trap due to its wrong policies.In an interview to Express, Ramana said that good governance is possible only if decisions are taken based on feedback from the people and asserted that TDP would fight relentlessly to highlight people’s problems.
Excerpts from the interview:
On cash-for-vote scam: He said that since the matter was in the courts, the cash-for-vote scam will be decided there. Referring to the recent political war in Karnataka, he said that even the ‘offers’ made by the BJP to other parties — Congress and JD (S) — has come into focus. ‘’No one has the right to criticise the TDP in the cash-for-vote issue.’’
TDP’s strength in Telangana: Gearing up for the 2019 general elections, Ramana said that the response from the cadre is tremendous as witnessed during the recently concluded ‘Mini Mahanadu’ meetings.
On the exit of some important TDP leaders like A Revanth Reddy and others from the party, he said that though some leaders had left the party for ‘temporary gains’, there was no change among the cadre. In 2014, the party had seven lakh membership and now has eight lakh membership. As for senior leader Motkupalli Narsimhulu’s proposal to merge the TDP with ruling TRS in Telangana state, Ramana dismissed it as his personal opinion.
On alliance with other parties: When asked about with which party the TDP would sail in the next elections, he said that a decision on having electoral alliances with other parties would depend on the situation in the state. ‘’The party leadership will take a decision with regard to electoral alliance with TRS, Congress or other parties. In politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends.’’
On Mahanadu: At the one day “Mahanadu 2018” meeting at Nampally Exhibition grounds on May 24, discussions will take place on eight resolutions including — non-implementation of promises made by the ruling TRS; farmers suicides - agriculture sector; lack of social justice in TRS rule; unemployment - closure of industries; pending projects - projects redesigning; people’s welfare in crisis - neglect of education and health sectors; undemocratic policies of TRS government and budget allocations - jugglery of numbers — before adopting them in the presence of party’s national president Chandrababu Naidu. He said that six more resolutions would be passed.