VIJAYAWADA: A senior Communist Party of India (CPI) delegation called on YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the party’s central office in Tadepalli on Thursday, inviting him to a multi-party round-table conference on severe drought, in Vijayawada on September 26.
The CPI delegation, led by State secretary G Eswaraiah, national executive member K Ramakrishna, Akkineni Vanaja, and P Harinath Reddy, met Jagan and YSRCP State Coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.
Later, speaking to the media, Eswaraiah said that Jagan responded positively to joining joint public struggles and highlighted that despite official claims of cultivation in 65 lakh acres, actual sowing occurred in barely 50 lakh acres, necessitating that the drought be declared a national calamity.
Earlier in the day, the CPI delegation visited Andhra Ratna Bhavan, the State Congress headquarters in Vijayawada, to invite APCC leadership to the September 26 round-table conference.
Senior Congress leaders, including Kolanukonda Shivaji, Naraharisetty Narasimha Rao, held detailed discussions with the Left leaders on local polls.
Both parties agreed to formulate a joint action plan to pressure both the central and state governments on El Niño-induced agricultural distress and the questionable functioning of the EC, with the Vijayawada City Congress scheduling a protest on Friday demanding the impeachment and removal of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.