He whipped himself in front of Parliament to make it to the headlines of newspapers and was one of the leaders who was a staunch integrationist. Chittoor MP N Siva Prasad, who took centre stage during the Samaikyandhra agitation in Delhi, is now banking on his opponent’s alleged pro-Telangana stand for turning voters in his favour. “My opponent, YSRC candidate Samanya Kiran, is a strong advocate of Telangana and I can prove it with evidence,’’ he says. In an interview with Express, Siva Prasad disputes the claims of his rivals that he is not available to people and spells out his plans for developing the constituency.
Excerpts from the Interview.
During campaigning you are raising the issue of your rival being a non-local. Can you prove it?
My rival, YSRC’s Samanya Kiran, is a hardcore Telangana protagonist. She had printed posters of ‘Bangaru Telangana naa kala — Telangana kosam poratam lo venakadugu veyanu’ (Telangana is my dream - I won’t take a step back in my fight for realising Telangana). I have ample proof for it. The YSRC is fielding a separatist and Telangana protagonist against me.
What do you think are the problems that are plaguing the constituency? How are you going to solve them, if elected to power?
The Tirupati Parliamentary constituency gets all the priority in the district. From now on, I will try to bring funds from the Centre for the seven Assembly constituencies under my constituency and focus on education and health sectors apart from developing basic infrastructure. Five out of the seven constituencies face traffic problems and the roads need to be widened. Highways that pass through the constituency need to be upgraded to six-laned roads.
Getting water from neighbouring states has become a major problem for the region. How are you going to fight it at the national level?
I will take the support of fellow parliamentarians of the region and try to ensure that we get our share of water.
There is a criticism that you are not available for the people of the constituency? What do you have to say about it?
I challenge such critics to come and tour villages with me. Let them point out one village where I did not go personally. I was available for my people to provide water and I even went to government offices to solve their problems. I stay in Tirupati, Chittoor and Kuppam and I am available for my people.
Tell us about the response you are getting from the people?
People believe that our party chief N Chandrababu Naidu is the only hope for the region. They are with the TDP and I am getting a good response. The support I am getting this time is the best I have received in my political career which spans over 15 years.
What is your opinion on your party’s alliance with the BJP and opposition to it from some sections?
The alliance was a historical necessity. For the development of Seemandhra, an efficient government at the Centre and also capable leadership at the State level is necessary and only the BJP-TDP combine provides it.