Highlighting the development and welfare initiatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, the party will go to the people in coming Assembly elections with a roadmap for all-round development of Andhra Pradesh, according to its State president Somu Veerraju.
Addressing the media here on Sunday, he emphasised the need for ending the ‘‘corrupt’‘ Jagan Mohan Reddy government and predicted that the saffron party would come to power both at the Centre and in the State in 2024.
‘’Development has become a casualty in the State as the ruling YSR Congress Party looted the State’s wealth by all means,’‘ he alleged, adding ‘‘mining, liquor and drug mafia ruled the roost’‘. He threw a challenge to other parties to come for an open debate on the development and welfare initiatives of the Narendra Modi government taken up on a scale never seen before.
Replying to a question, he said the BJP would fight the elections ‘‘striking an alliance with the people’‘. He parried a question whether the BJP would align with other opposition parties to avoid division of the ‘‘anti-establishment’‘ votes as advocated by Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan. He maintained that the BJP activists need not join the ‘‘Varahi Yatra’‘ of the actor-politician.
‘’We will organise 820 meetings across the 26 districts on our own in the State to highlight the need for a ‘‘double engine’‘ BJP governments at the Centre and in the State. This is the need of the hour to spur economic growth in the nation, including the State,’‘ he opined.
Earlier, he took part in an intellectuals’ meet organised to mark the ‘‘Anti-Emergency Day’‘ (former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared Emergency on this day in 1975). Mr. Veerraju recalled that as a student leader he was jailed for a day for writing a slogan on a wall against the Emergency and that he had skipped an exam as he was against hailing Emergency for a question given in the test.
He joined BJP State executive member N. Surya Kalyan Chakravarthi and other leaders in hailing the yeoman services rendered by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, the mother organisation of the saffron party, in fighting against Emergency.
Two veteran RSS leaders G. Jayaramaiah and K. Srirama Sarma were felicitated on the occasion.
The Congress party should realise that its leader Rahul Gandhi was able to undertake ‘‘Bharat Jodo yatra’‘ only because the BJP believed in democracy, said BJP leader Lanka Dinakar.
