False Accusations cannot Hide Hard Realities: Lok Satta

Senior Congress leader K. Kesava Rao has merely betrayed his ignorance and political bankruptcy by supporting those who physically attacked Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan on the legislature premises on February 17 and leveled scurrilous charges against him shamelessly, said the Lok Satta Party here today.

In a media statement, Lok Satta Party Working President D. V. V. S. Varma, and leaders Bandaru Ramamohan Rao and V. Vijaeyender Reddy said that Mr. Kesava Rao feigned ignorance of the fact that the Lok Satta since its inception as an NGO has been fighting against the presence of criminal, corrupt and rowdy elements in legislatures. Dr. JP did not enter the Assembly to run away from such elements, they said. “Those who threw democratic traditions to winds have no moral right to mouth moral platitudes. People know that it is Dr. JP alone who has been espousing people’s problems sincerely with reasoned arguments even as he upholds the dignity of the House and does not waste its precious time.”

The Lok Satta leaders accused Mr. Kesava Rao of distorting Dr. JP’s remarks. Dr. JP had said that India’s first generation leaders disproved British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s dire prediction that Indians, if given freedom, would fight among themselves on the basis of caste and religion and region and language and people’s lives would become miserable with taxes even on dal and salt. In contrast, Dr. JP said, present day politicians with their behavior seemed to be proving Winston Churchill right. Mr. Kesava Rao exposed his level of intelligence by commenting that even worms have intelligence in an allusion to Dr. JP. People are fully cognizant of the intellect and values of different leaders.

Dr.Kesava Rao is a senior functionary at the national level of the Congress party. If his expressed views are to the construed as the stance of the Congress party itself, then they would reveal the attitude of the party towards constitutional values and the fight against the scourge of corruption, they said.

The Lok Satta leaders said that elements like Mr. Kesava Rao, who have not bothered about Telangana people’s problems, are falsely accusing the Lok Satta of not fighting for their cause. It was the Lok Satta Party alone which took the lead for deletion of Section 14 F from the Presidential Order on police recruitment, opposed diversion of the Godavari water to Hyderabad in the interests of Telangana people, advocated utilization of the entire Nagarjunasagar water for the benefit of Telangana and Rayalaseema, and sought empowerment of local governments and provision of quality education and health care to all and livelihood opportunities to the youth in Telangana. It was Dr. JP who got the cotton market yard at Siddipet which had remained closed for six months reopened and extended financial aid to Mallesam of Nawabpet who burnt away his paddy crop as he could not get it harvested.

A remedy to ailments in a democracy lies in strengthening democracy and rebuilding failed institutions and not in destroying them.

The Lok Satta leaders wanted the Government to go the immediate rescue of farmers of Adilabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts where unseasonal rains damaged crops like chilli, turmeric, bengal gram, maize, and mango.

Appeal to students

The Lok Satta Party leaders appealed to students not to disrupt their studies or indulge in violence even as they pursue their agitations. They expressed concern that children belonging to poor families were at the receiving end of police baton charges and firings and ruining their future even as agitation leaders safeguarded their properties and their children’s future. Andhra Pradesh has become a festering sore as the two main political parties – the Congress and the TDP – adopted double standards in the two regions on the Telangana issue. They demanded a comprehensive debate on the issue in the legislature and its early resolution.