People are thirsting for a change: JP

• Lok Satta to support NDA in national interest
• Says traditional parties have converted politics into business

Hyderabad: Lok Satta Party national president Dr Jayaprakash Narayan on Wednesday asserted that people in urban areas of both Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh who were seething with indignation over traditional parties would vote for the Lok Satta Party in the upcoming general elections.

Addressing a media conference at which he released the names of candidates contesting for 45 Assembly seats in Telangana, JP said the party was concentrating on urban areas where it enjoyed considerable support. The party will release the list of candidates contesting from residuary Andhra Pradesh on April 12. The party is contesting only from Malkajgiri for the Lok Sabha.

JP recalled that the movement to transform the nature of politics and cleanse democracy began at Kukatpally in 2009 when he was elected to the Assembly. The democratic revolution manifested subsequently in Delhi and was now about to be repeated in urban areas, especially in Hyderabad.

JP said that traditional parties had converted politics into business. “They sell seats and buy votes, both involving astronomical amounts. They are bent on coming to power by offering temporary sops or monetary inducements or by exploiting loyalties to caste, region, religion and language. The people are fed up with such tactics of traditional parties,” he said.

He appealed to voters to reject unequivocally all those who flaunted their money bags or lineage, those who were steeped in corruption or have criminal antecedents and those who offered inducement or sought to divide them on the basis of caste, religion, region and language. They should vote for candidates who would work for a better future for the two States now coming up. He pointed out that the Lok Satta Party was fielding educated candidates known for their integrity and commitment to service. A majority of them were young, most of them being in their 20s and 30s. Of the 45 Lok Satta candidates 19 were BCs, six SCs, two STs and four women.

JP said in reply to a question that traditional parties had not responded to the Lok Satta initiative for electoral adjustments because they perceive the party as threat to their very existence.

Narayan who filed his nomination for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday said that the Lok Satta had decided to support the NDA in national interest. The country's economy was in doldrums and polity in disarray. The need of the hour was employment generation and good governance. If a crore of jobs were not created every year for the next ten years, the very survival of India would be doubtful.

Against such a backdrop, the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had been laying emphasis on reviving the economy by focusing on manufacturing and providing corruption-free governance. Although the Lok Satta has differences with one or two aspects of the BJP manifesto, it had decided to support it in national interest.

Lok Satta Party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, Bandaru Ramamohan Rao, Y D Rama Rao and Ramachandraiah took part in the media conference.