BJP demands extension of sarpanches’ tenure

Hyderabad: The BJP has demanded the State government to extend the tenure of sarpanches rather than bringing them under the rule of special officers.

Addressing the media in New Delhi on Wednesday, State BJP chief and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy charged that the BRS government ‘destroyed’ the Panchayat Raj system in the last ten years by diverting the Central funds released to the panchayats. ‘The government crippled the PR system without providing any support to the panchayats. The Congress government is responsible for conducting timely elections to panchayats. Bringing them under special officer regime would be an insult to the 73rd constitutional amendment’, he added. Until elections are held, he demanded, extension of the tenure of the sarpanches.

Reddy recalled Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s repeated assurances during the election campaign that beneficiaries of government schemes would be selected by holding gram sabhas. How gram sabhas could be held without the sarpanches and selection of beneficiaries; sarpanches are responsible for the selection of the beneficiaries, he asked.

Asserting that the special officer regime would further weaken the PR Institutions and development programmes will suffer until the panchayat elections are held, the minister said It was against this backdrop, he had demanded extension of sarpanches’ tenure. He expressed doubt whether the government wanted to delay implementing its election promises by not conducting panchayat polls.

"It is two months since the government has come to power. If the panchayat polls are delayed by a month then the general elections poll code will come into force. The Congress hopes to delay the elections by four-five months; implementation of the schemes could also get delayed," he pointed out.

The minister said a State-level party meeting will be held on February 2 to chalk out action plan and launch of LS election campaign in a big way. Reddy expressed confidence the party will get good results. Many intellectuals, social reformers, industrialists and ex-servicemen are coming forward to join the party on seeing the 10 years of governance of PM Narendra Modi.

Earlier, he, along with national executive member Eatala Rajender welcomed Global Trust Bank MD Sudhakar from Hyderabad, Vinod Rao, a businessman from Khammam, and Ella Reddy a scientist from Nizamabad, into the party.