TDP claims 'moral victory' in defeat in panchayat polls

Amaravati: TDP national general secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh on Monday asserted that their party leaders and candidates fought courageously against the unchecked attacks and violations resorted to by the ruling YCP leaders in the panchayat elections.

Lokesh said in a statement that the just concluded elections ran like a battle between the people's democracy and Jagan Reddy's monocracy in which eventually the people had the final victory. The YSRCP might have got a few more seats but it was the TDP which won the moral victory ultimately.

Significantly, the TDP leader made the remark when the YSRCP sweeped the panchayat elections and won 10,800 village panchayats of the total 13,000 panchayats that went to polls.

Lokesh lauded the general public for their unshaken trust in the democratic institutions and for their impressive turnout in the elections. This was despite the fact that the Jagan regime had held the elections based on the oppressive Raja Reddy constitution but not the democratic Ambedkar Constitution. With their chaos and atrocities, the YCP leaders created terror in the villages.

Lokesh deplored that in some places, the candidates supported by the TDP were murdered. At other places, they were not allowed to file their nominations. Even if they filed their nominations, they were threatened and attacked physically. They were forced to withdraw the nominations.

In some places, the nomination papers of the TDP candidates were snatched away and torn. The police officials joined hands with the YSRCP and terrorised the rival candidates.

Jagan Reddy's gangsters perpetrated unchecked election violations at midnight hours. Where the TDP candidates won, the counting process was deliberately delayed till the midnight hours. Then, they were manipulating results and announced YSRCP candidates as having won the seats. The Jagan regime gave a new meaning to the freedom at midnight concept.

Lokesh appreciated the all out efforts made by the TDP leaders and the cadres and for their courageous fight to save democracy from the ruling party hooligans.