BJP invites youth to politics

Visakhapatnam: Former national president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) M Venkaiah Naidu has called upon the youth to be in the forefront of politics as the country needs youth power. He urged the youth to join politics with 'development, good governance and security' as 'Success Mantra' after choosing the party taking its character, performance, calibre, conduct, dedication and service motto into consideration. Mr Venkaiah Naidu was addressing a massive gathering of youth comprising students and employees of private and public sector units at an interactive session on 'Development politics � Role of youth' here on Monday. He said though the youth has an ambition of joining politics, the country does not have proper leaders to lead them in the right way despite the nation having a great heritage, culture and tradition. "Soon after getting 'Swarajyam' (Independence), we thought of 'Surajyam' and slavery remained even after the British left the country. People are tilting towards Western culture being shown through TVs, and local problems, terrorism and extremism have increased a lot. Hence the country needs the only 'Mantra' of 'development, good governance and security'," he observed. He said people should select and elect a party having character, calibre and commitment and not caste, religion, money and muscle power. Besides, it is the prime responsibility of youth to ensure that politics is not influenced by money power, he added. Alleging that Andhra politics had become 'dirty', the BJP national leader said there was a deep crisis in the present politics and there was every need to bail out the State from the crisis. "Though Mahatma Gandhi had predicted that there would be no 'Rama Rajyam' without 'Grama Rajyam', the so-called leaders have brought 'Kama Rajyam' now," he lamented. Mr Naidu said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee had built golden quadrangle � four and six-lane national highways, brought TV revolution, telephone connectivity, air, rail and road connectivity and port connectivity and 60 per cent of the total cargo being handled in the country was from Kandla Port in Gujarat. He said Mr Vajpayee had made Indian people proud and now the country needs leaders who can deliver the goods. Referring to the industrial scenario in the State, he said the position was not favourable due to 'paralytic policies', 'inaction' and 'inefficiency' of the government and major industrialists were opting for States like Gujarat. Lambasting both Congress and the Telugu Desam parties, he said they were mainly focusing on populist schemes with which nothing could be possible. The BJP wants to empower the people by increasing their purchasing power, he said. "As Andhra Pradesh government has lacked foresight, the people are facing severe power crisis and 'free power means no power'. Even Gujarat, which has witnessed all-round development under the able leadership of Narendra Modi, the talk of the day, is not providing free power, but 24-hour quality power. Why did Andhra government fail in linking the Godavari river with Krishna or with Mahanadi as was done in Gujarat?" he said. Mr Naidu replied to a question that the BJP favoured smaller States as they deliver goods to the expected level. When a student asked how it was planning to bring back the black money into the country if BJP came to power, he replied that it would be possible with such a party having 'political will'. Asked what would be done to those who frequently switch parties, the national leader answered that they would come out with an agenda making such candidates ineligible to contest elections for five years. An Andhra University student asked the BJP leader to clarify whether the party would continue the privatisation move. To this, Mr Naidu replied that important core sectors would not be privatised. About providing reservations to the 'backward among forward castes', he said such sections would be taken care of if the BJP was voted to power. About growing atrocities against women, he said that the mindset of the people should change along with a change in the present education system. The BJP would bring an effective Act to control atrocities against women, he added. Party National Executive Committee members Dr K Haribabu and S Veerraju, State vice-president Bandaru Rangamohan, former chairman of Bar Council of India DV Subba Rao, BJYM national leader PNV Madhav, senior leaders PV Chalapati Rao and Kolli Ratnakumari were among those present.