Left pitches for united fight

• A Asks TDP to lead the stir A
• Urges YSRCP to join the agitationA

Hyderabad: Hectic efforts are on by the left parties to bring all opposition parties on one platform to take on the government on the issue of power crisis facing the State. This power agitation is different from what the State had seen in 2004. During that agitation all the opposition parties instantly joined the issue against the TDP government's decision to hike power tariff. This time the opposition is not united as each one has his own political agenda and clashing ideologies, according to Communist Party of India - Marxist -(CPM) state secretary B V Raghavulu. Amidst this diversity, the left parties are claiming that they have succeeded in bringing the power issue to centrestage and converting it into a political agenda for all parties. The issue has gained importance and the government finds itself in a defensive situation. If all political parties continue their protest, the government would be compelled to solve the crisis, Raghavulu added. To see that the agitation against the proposed power tariff hike and non availability of power for agriculture does not lose its steam, the CPM and CPI leaders on Thursday made yet another attempt to seek the support of YSR Congress party for the April 9 statewide bandh. The CPM leader Y V Rao, CPI leader Aziz Pasha and RSP leader Janakiramulu met the YSRCP honorary president Y S Vijayamma in this regard. Though she expressed her solidarity with the left agitation, she said the YSRCP had also given a call for statewide bandh on the same day separately. The YSRCP has decided to take the power struggle in some 'VIP' constituencies of Congress leaders. On other hand, the TDP has made it clear that they will not join the agitation if the YSRCP goes along with the left parties since TDP has been alleging that it was YS Rajasekhara Reddys government which was responsible for the "mismanagement" of the power sector. The YSRCP reacted saying that it will not join the agitation with TDP, since they feel that it was N Chandrababu Naidu who was the man behind secret Power Project Agreements which had led to the present crisis. Meanwhile, the CPI state secretary K Narayana appealed to the TDP to lead the agitation. He said the left parties took to agitation on power issue then (2004) and now. At that time it was against Chandrababu Naidu's government and now it is against the Congress government. He said the CPI would support any agitation launched by the TDP on the issue of power. TDP senior leader T Nageswara Rao said that they would join the State bandh called by the left parties on April nine. Earlier, CPI senior leader and MLA K Sambasiva Rao and the representatives of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Association (FAPSIA) met the MLAs at the dharna site and extended solidarity to the fight against the government. Caught in a fix, the government whip Jagga Reddy and MLC P Sudhakar Reddy tried to launch a counter attack saying that the opposition parties were misguiding the people. They said the Chief Minister had clearly explained the ground realities and told them that the problem would overcome by November. He had made it clear that lack of connectivity was hampering the efforts of government to buy more power, they said.

Demands to make 'public' CM's letter to APERC Hyderabad: Left parties on Thursday demanded Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to make the official letter 'reportedly' written to AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) public. This letter was written urging the Commission to accept the DISCOM's proposal to implement non- telescopic system in collection of power charges in the new tariff structure and allow the purchase of power generated by using RLNG at the cost of Rs 12 per unit. Ten Left party leaders�BV Raghavulu of CPM, K Narayana of CPI, DV Krishna of CPI (ML) New Democracy), G Vijayakumar of CPI (ML), MD Ghouse of MCPI (U), Murahari of MUCI (C), B Surender Reddy of Forward Block, Janakairamulu of RSP, B Veeranna of CPI (ML) and CPI (ML) Liberation leader N Murthy dashed off the letter to the Chief Minister. The leaders said it came to their notice that as the APERC rejected non-telescopic system and the purchase of RLNG power from private plants at a high cost, the government wrote a letter to APERC on March 26 and mounted pressure on it to accept the two proposals. Demanding the Chief Minister to withdraw the letter written to the Commission immediately, the Left party leaders asked the government to prove their honesty by making the letter open to public. The government's effort to influence the commission in taking the decision on new power tariff was a 'deceived' act, they added.