The Hindu : TDP to suspend more leaders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

TDP to suspend more leaders

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD April 24. The Telugu Desam Party has decided to haul the Anantapur zilla parishad chairman, Jonna Suryanarayana, before its Disciplinary Action Committee and to suspend five other party leaders for disrupting elections to mandal-level committees yesterday. Mr. Suryanarayana was found responsible for postponement of organisational polls in the Kadiri Assembly segment by insisting that they be held in a hotel whereas other leaders had already assembled at the market yard. He has been asked to appear before the DAC.

For the second consecutive day yesterday, the party office here received complaints of indiscipline, defiance of poll observers and forcible postponement of elections. The convener of the party's unit in Puthalapattu mandal in Chittoor district, Chandramouli, was suspended for ignoring the observers and snatching the camera from a press photographer.

Pabba Ramesh of Sivampet mandal in Narsapur constitutency, Kota Ashok of Shayampet constituency, and former mandal party presidents of Miryalguda, Ravinder Reddy and Ramesh Reddy, have also been suspended for anti-party activities. The party has ordered an inquiry into the postponement of polls in eight Municipal Corporation divisions in Karwan here. Notwithstanding these acts of indiscipline, the TDP leadership maintained that elections were held in a peaceful and democratic manner in 92 Assembly constituencies covering 325 mandal, 39 municipal and 103 division units yesterday.

The Information Minister, S. Chandramohan Reddy, the TDP politburo member, S. Venugopalachary, and the general secretary, M.A. Sharief, told reporters here today that polling in Koilkuntla and Madanapalle constituencies had been postponed to April 26 while no date had been fixed for Kadiri.

They attacked the PCC president, M. Satyanarayana Rao, for his statement that the TDP president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, was getting scared by the CLP leader, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's padayatra. They said Mr. Naidu had nothing to fear because he was always with the people whereas Dr. Reddy undertook tours when his party was in a crisis or when there were elections.

They dubbed as `a political drama' the gruel centres run by the CPI(M) and others because rice was available in plenty for distribution to the poor. Admitting that there was migration of labour from some places, they said the situation was not so bad as to force people to drink gruel. The Government was giving 10 kg rice each to 16 lakh families and a monthly pension of Rs. 75 to 19.5 lakh persons.

Referring to the string of promises reportedly being made by the CLP leader during his padayatra, they compared him to the traditional alms-seeker who moves from house to house during Sankranti season promising the moon. They advised him to convince the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to implement these promises in Congress-ruled States.

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