Beware of false leaders, warns Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today cautioned people to beware of leaders who are trying to come to power by making hypocritical promises, indulging in personal invective and spending tons of black money.

Talking to the media, party spokesperson S. Manorama and Mahila Lok Satta State Coordinator Saroja Devi referred to former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s promise to shut belt shops, the unprintable vituperations indulged in by State women leaders of the Telugu Desam and Praja Rayam Parties, and CMS estimate of the money to be spent by contestants on buying votes in the coming elections.

They said that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, the architect of the belt shop culture, was trying to take the women for a ride by promising to shut them down even as he winks at belt shops run by his own party people now and refuses to commit himself against deploying liquor to seduce voters. The top women leaders of the Praja Rajyam and the Telugu Desam have demonstrated what sort of standards people can expect if women and men of their ilk were to be elected.

On the CMS study, the Lok Satta leaders said its estimate unveiled only the tip of the iceberg of black money parties are going to spend in the ensuing elections. It will be in the range of Rs.15000 crore – Rs.20,000 crore all over the country and not Rs.8,000 crore. Should people part with their precious vote for a paltry Rs.500 or Rs.1000 and enable a legislator in a State like Andhra Pradesh to lord over the Rs.2,35,000 to be spent by the Government on each voter in the coming five years?

The Lok Satta leaders appealed to people to exercise their franchise wisely since the elections concerned their future and not the fortunes of politicians or their parties.