Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] central committee member M.A. Gafoor on Tuesday slammed the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the opposition, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Jana Sena Party (JSP), for allegedly remaining ‘‘indifferent’‘ to the plight of Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation.
None of the major promises made on the floor of Parliament, including Special Category Status (SCS), at the time of the bifurcation and the assurances made in the State Reorganisation Act was kept, he alleged.
He was leading a ‘Praja Rakshana Bheri Bus Yatra‘ here, during which he spoke at a series of public meetings at Kondepi, S.N. Padu and other places.
Promises not kept
He wondered why the drought-prone Prakasam district had not been included in the list of backward districts declared by the Centre for providing special economic assistance.
The ruling YSRCP, which promised to secure SCS from the Centre if the party was given a majority of MP seats, completely forgot the promise after the polls, he alleged. What was worse was that the YSRCP and the TDP backed the ‘‘sectarian agenda’‘ of the saffron party at the Centre and were preoccupied with fighting each other for the political hegemony in the State.
He accused the Narendra Modi government of currying favours with select corporate firms by giving away prime assets of public sector undertakings at low prices. It also put the common people to severe hardship with a heavy dose of taxes on all essential commodities.
Farmers and farmhands were migrating to far away cities and towns as severe drought gripped the State, he said and referred to the gory road accident that left 12 workers from Andhra Pradesh dead at Chikkballapur in Karnataka recently.
No drought-relief measure was taken up by the government to offer succour to the workers, he alleged, adding that liquor, sand and mineral mining mafia ruled the roost.
The State also suffered on the industrial front, and its debt crossed the unsustainable ₹10 lakh crore mark, said the former MLA. CPI(M) cadre led by party State committee member Punati Anjenayelu organised a motorcycle rally on the occasion.
