Naidu plays BC card in North Andhra

Visakhapatnam: Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu said he will fight till Backward Classes reservations are included in the Constitution. He addressed a huge gathering here on Wednesday kicking off the Panchayat poll campaign. Thousands of grass-root level workers from the four districts of North Andhra, which is predominantly BC populated, attended the meet. Babu tried to impress upon the cadres that Telugu Desam is the only party which championed the cause of BCs, farmers and villagers. He patiently narrated how the Telugu Desam contributed to the development of villages and farm sector, and how Congress in its nine years of rule demolished the democratic structure of local bodies. "Congress always feared to face elections of local bodies and tried to postpone them as long as possible," he said. Chandra Babu said Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy hiked the electricity charges of streetlights in villages from Rs 2.30 a unit to Rs. 5.37 a unit. Electricity charges for the drinking water plants are also hiked from Rs. 1.40 a unit to Rs.4.37 a unit. He said if these charges are paid there will be no funds left with the Pachayats for developmental activities. Because of the delay in the elections for two years we have already lost Rs 4,000 crore of Central funds, he added. Chandrababu also tried to impress upon farmers, who live in villages by saying that input cost of farming has increased 300-fold while Minimum Support Price increased by only 20 per cent. Neelam cyclone caused a loss of Rs 55,000 crore to the farmers and the government only compensated with Rs 2,500 crore, Babu lamented. He said during the past nine years 23,000 farmers committed suicides and it clearly depicts how lethargic these governments are, referring both to the Central and State governments. Chandra Babu also recalled how he worked for the upliftment of poor with schemes like Janmabhoomi, Clean and Green, Food for Work, Self help groups, CMEY, Forest committees and Rythu Mitra among others, He urged the party cadres to go to villages and bring awareness among masses about the corruption of the Congress and the genuine mindset of the TDP which is committed for the poor. TDP seniors like Pratibha Bharati, Kala Venkata Rao, actor Murali Mohan, Bandaru Satyanarayana and Butchayya Choudary participated.