VIJAYAWADA: Participants of the INDIA alliance parties meeting at Balotsav Bhavan in Vijayawada on Thursday stressed the need to oust the dictatorial NDA from power. APCC chief YS Sharmila said similarly official and unofficial partners of the BJP in the State too should also be defeated.
Presiding over the meeting, former minister Vadde Sobhanadreswara Rao said under the present YSRC regime, the State stood first in borrowing and last in self-respect.
Sharmila said the anti-people’s governments in both the State and at the Centre should be dethroned. She cautioned that if the BJP-led NDA retains power, the Constitution of the country may be changed. She asserted that the Congress is the true champion of people.
CPM and CPI State secretaries V Srinivasa Rao and K Ramakrishna and Jai Bharat Party founder president VV Lakshmi Narayana also spoke.
Sharmila ready to contest from anywhere in AP
APCC chief YS Sharmila Reddy said she is ready to contest from anywhere as directed by the party high command.
After a meeting with Congress leaders from Kadapa district at Andhra Ratna Bhavan on Thursday, where they urged her to contest from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, Sharmila said she is ready to contest, but from where will be decided by the party high command.
She said nearly 1,500 applications have been received for MLA and MP seats and they are now under scrutiny and the party high command will release the list of candidates soon.
According to sources, the party high command has asked Sharmila to contest from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, and during the meeting, she sought the opinion of the leaders, who overwhelmingly supported it. However, the official announcement will be made only after the Congress releases its list of the candidates.
As she too hails from the YSR family, and given the incumbent of Kadapa parliamentary constituency YS Avinash Reddy was an accused in the murder case of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy, political observers are of the view that Kadapa may witness a close contest.
Sharmila speaking Naidu’s script, alleges Sajjala
YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Thursday lashed out at APCC chief YS Sharmila Reddy for her comments on the party and party president and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. “She is speaking the script written by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu,” he said, during the release of the book titled ‘Chandrababu - Maha Dopidi’ penned by journalist P Vijay Babu.
He said, “Naidu sees politics as looting, which is evident from several incidents in the last three decades. The very concept of corruption and managing systems is introduced by Naidu.”
He described the previous TDP regime as ‘Mafia Raj’ and termed Amaravati the biggest scam. “After being rejected by the people, Naidu, with the help of alliance, is making a do-or-die effort to come back to power,” Sajjala observed.