The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘State misusing public money’

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Thursday, Sep 11, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘State misusing public money’

Special Correspondent

‘Sonia is visiting the State for political gain’
‘Farmers reeling under shortage of fertilizer and other inputs’

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam Party has charged the State government with misusing public money for All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi’s visit tomorrow for what was purely a party meeting.

Addressing a press conference, TDP leaders -- N. Janardhan Reddy, Revanth Reddy and P. Yadagiri -- said the government was spending tax payers’ money for mobilising people and organising meetings and wanted the Congress to foot the bill.

It was clear that Ms. Gandhi was visiting the State for political gain much like she did when her party was in the Opposition, they said and wanted her to introspect whether she should make such “political trips” to the State so frequently.

They recalled how the AICC president had visited the same Anantapur district and distributed relief of Rs. 22,000 each to the next of the kin of 90 farmers who had committed suicide a few years ago, just to embarrass the TDP which was in power then. But in the last four-and-a-half-year rule of the Congress, not even 30 of them had got relief. Ms. Sonia had also not visited the State to extend help to 5,000 farmers who committed suicide during this period, they said.

Farmers were in a pathetic condition and were reeling under shortage of fertilizer and other inputs, but Ms. Gandhi seemed to be in no mood to ask the Central and the State governments to ensure adequate supply. The TDP leaders wanted their Congress counterparts to take Ms. Gandhi to the villages in Anantapur where farmers continued to commit suicide, Bandlapalli village where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had launched National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and Obulapuram mining corporation’s controversial iron ore mines.

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Andhra Pradesh