VIJAYAWADA: CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna threw down the gauntlet at Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu to contest the elections to the Lok Sabha from any constituency.
Addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a two-day party state executive meeting here Sunday, Ramakrishna, taking exception to the minister’s comments on the Left parties and his claims on BJP gaining foothold in the state, said Venkaiah Naidu even with the help of his ally TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s support cannot win the direct elections in the state.
“The real litmus test for BJP to know its strength in the state is for Venkaiah Naidu to contest direct elections. If he does not accept the challenge, he should withdraw his words against the Left parties,” he said.
He wondered if according to Venkaiah, there are no communists in the country, what was the point of criticising them. He said the presence of the Left parties was responsible for the success of the general strike on September 2, wherein 15 crore people had participated. Left leader accused the NDA government of failing to keep its promise of special category status to the state and demanded to know when it will implement the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.
Ramakrishna was also critical of the state government and said all it had succeeded in is to ensure prices of essentials got increased manifold, increase in levels of negligence and corruption. He took exception to making the capital construction activity a private affair sans any public participation.
He also took exception to the government denying permission to opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s indefinite fast seeking special category status. “It seems he had forgotten that when he was opposition leader, the then ruling parties had allowed him to stage protest demonstration at MLA Quaters and AP Bhavan in Delhi. He is doing everything to suppress opposition parties,” he said.
The CPI state executive discussed at length the current scenario in the state and will continue the discussions on Monday before adopting resolutions.