Early Lok Sabha polls on cards, says CPI Andhra Pradesh Secretary

The BJP was trying to catch the opposition parties off-guard before they formed a formidable alliance, Ramakrishna alleges

CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna boarding the ‘bus yatra’ vehicle to campaign against the BJP and YSRCP governments at the Centre and State, respectively, at Nellore on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Echoing the views of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, CPI Andhra Pradesh secretary K. Ramakrishna has said: ‘‘There are strong indications that the elections to Lok Sabha may be advances to December 2023’‘.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Ramakrishna, during his ‘bus yatra‘ from Visakhapatnam to Tirupati conducting a campaign to end the ‘‘misrule’‘ of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the State, said the BJP was trying to catch the opposition parties off-guard before they formed a formidable alliance. He concurred with the views of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee made earlier in this regard.

The 26 opposition parties in the country, including the CPI, were fully geared up to face the elections at any time, he asserted, adding that the third in a series of meetings of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 to chalk out poll strategies well in advance to defeat the BJP at any cost as “the country faced the grave threat of Constitution being rewritten to end secularism and socialism enshrined in it”. He also said the saffron party was booking all available helicopters much in advance to deny choppers for the opposition parties’ campaign.

‘YSRCP-BJP tacit understanding’

Welcoming Telugu Desam Party national president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s statement that the TDP would not have any truck with the BJP in Telangana, he said Mr. Naidu should realise both the NDA government at the Centre and YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh should be thrown out of power in the larger interests of the Nation and the State.

He said the TDP should realise that the ruling YSRCP had a tacit understanding with the ruling BJP at the Centre with a view to getting relief for YSRCP leaders in court cases and raising loans for the cash-strapped State. Development had come to a standstill because of the ‘‘inept’‘ Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the State, he charged.

‘BJP failed to fulfil bifurcation promises’

The BJP-led government at the Centre had not only denied the Special Category Status but also failed to fulfil most of the promises made at the time of bifurcation, including the setting up of the steel plant at Kadapa, public sector seaport at Dugarajapatnam or the early completion of Polavaram project as a national project.

Unfortunately, the BJP was now dithering on rehabilitation, a major component without which the project could not make headway. Backing the agitation of the State government employees demanding the implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS), he said the YSRCP government should keep its poll promise to scrap the contributory pension scheme (CPS), which is long overdue.