The Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP) resolved in its meeting held at the Praja Vedika here on Saturday to protest against the passage of a full-fledged Budget by the BJP-led NDA government and oppose the usage of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the general elections.
The meeting also reportedly discussed a proposal for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to stage a demonstration in New Delhi on the last day of the Parliament session and invite the non-BJP parties, if the State got paltry allocations in the Union Budget.
Besides, the MPs decided to mount a fresh offensive on the Centre for denying the Special Category Status, meagre financial assistance and not implementing the Reorganisation Act in its entirety.
After the deliberations, MP Y.S. Chowdary told the media that the meeting took note of reports that the Centre might present a full Budget instead of the vote-on-account budget knowing well that being the incumbent government, it could not break the norm.
The MPs decided to stiffly oppose it in Parliament and to press for dispensing with the EVMs on the ground that they could be tampered with notwithstanding the Central government’s claims to the contrary.
Mr. Naidu told the MPs that EVMs were being opposed by many parties and if the Centre did not give in to the demand for complete use and scrutiny of the VVPAT slips, the machines should be done away with and ballot papers used in their place.
The CM expressed regret that the Centre had stopped giving funds for the development of backward districts in spite of the recommendation by the NITI Aayog and for delaying the reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the Polavaram project.
The meeting dwelt on the modalities of the meeting of the non-BJP parties in Amaravati, which was mooted by Mr. Naidu at the ‘United India’ rally in Kolkata and to highlight the failures of the Centre and the robbing of the autonomy of institutions.
