Lady ZPTC to sell her flat to fulfil poll promises!

Hyderabad: Frustrated over the raw deal meted out to her by the state government, Chevella Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member C Sailaja Reddy has put up her own flat for sale to fulfill at least some of her electoral promises.

Mesmerised by Bangaru Telangana slogan, Sailaja Reddy had taken the first plunge into the electoral politics in 2014 when she won the Chevella ZPTC member election on ruling TRS party ticket. Upset with the unhelpful attitude of the government in the subsequent years, she quit the TRS and joined the Congress last year.

Little knowing the rules of the game in politics, the fresher into politics from being a homemaker, had hoped to do a lot for about 30-Gram Panchayats under her constituency. She was under the impression that she would get an uninterrupted flow of funds since she was ruling party member so that she could deliver all her electoral promises.

Speaking to The Hans India, she said, there are about 30 Gram Panchayat under her constituency. “All that I had promised was the construction of drains and maintenance of sanitation, laying of roads to the fields where farmers cultivate vegetables. She said the Zilla Parishad, Mandal Parishads and Gram Panchayats should get funds under the 14 Finance Commission grants.

Also, the State Directorate of Mines and Geology (SDMG) had to pay Rs 540 crore to the erstwhile Ranga Reddy district towards the seigniorage charges. With these funds, each Gram Panchayat could get about Rs 70 lakh to take up the works. In addition, the stamp duty funds were also not coming to the local bodies. All this had made her work to deliver on the electoral promises tough, she said.

"Wherever you go and whichever event you attend, people question me when I would keep my electoral promises. It is rather humiliating to face my electors’ questions,” she said.

Following this, she knocked the doors of the Hyderabad High Court seeking a direction to the government to release pending funds. Though the High Court issued a direction that funds be released within two days, the local bodies are yet to receive any funds even after one year,” she said.

Explaining why she had decided to dispose of her property, she said that she may not be in a position to deliver all the promises made. But, at least “I will be in a position to take up small works costing around one to two lakhs in each village with the sale proceeds of my property," she added.