Naidu exhorts party men to strive for victory in Panchayat elections

Tirupati: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu lashed at the government for weakening and destroying the Panchayat and municipal institutions in the state. Addressing the party activists at the regional seminar of Telugu Desam Party here on Friday, Naidu blamed the Congress for the sorry state of affairs in the state. He gave directions to the party activists regarding the poll strategy that needs to be adopted to face the gram panchayat elections. He appealed to them to strive for the victory of their candidates in the elections as these elections would serve as the foundation for the general elections. The TDP units of Tirupati and Nellore participated in the seminar. Chandrababu Naidu said that while the TDP strengthened the panchayati raj institutions, the Congress weakened it by not holding elections regularly to these local bodies. This resulted in the centre stopping funds to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore that was due to the state. Even the development of the villages had come to a standstill. Naidu accused the Congress and the YSR Congress Party of looting the state and warned the people not to vote for these two "corrupt parties." A vote for the corrupt would hinder development and progress, he said. The TDP president said sand mafias were ruling the roost in several villages in the state. He lashed at the Congress government for its faulty policies which resulted in the death of 83,000 farmers in the state during the last nine years. He said that the farmers were facing untold hardships as they were not getting minimum support price for their produce. Chandrababu said that the State government did nothing for the safe return of the Telugu pilgrims who were stranded at Uttarakhand due to the sudden flash floods and landslides. He said that Chief Minister was more interested in saving his Chief Ministership and not the people's welfare. The TDP leader said that he strived for the welfare of all the sections of the society while he was in power. He said that he thought of writing off loans to the DWACRA group of women and would make an announcement in this regard soon. He said that he did not join politics to loot people's wealth for his family. He said he was satisfied and contented with one son only as if he had more children, he would have to earn more for them. He said that it would not be possible for anybody to break his record for another 20 years as he served as Chief Minister for nine years and also as Opposition leader for another nine years. Chandrababu said that if he comes to power again, he would strive for people's welfare and for the progress and development of party activists.