Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan said in a teleconference with party leaders on Sunday that he would visit the flood-affected areas soon to obtain a first-hand account of the plight of the people.
But before that, JSP political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar would go around the villages that were ravaged by the floods in Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Nellore districts, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said.
Noting that Rayalaseema had not experienced floods of such severity in almost a century as per experts, the JSP president said, “it apparently is of little concern for the government.”
The government was not in a position to give an assurance to the people that it would mitigate their suffering by taking all steps, he said.
“Nothing much can be done to prevent floods when heavy rains occur on such a massive scale, but to respond in time is in the government’s hands,” he observed.
‘Jagan unmoved’
“The government has failed to rise to the occasion,” he alleged, while recalling that Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, as Leader of the Opposition, had not visited the villages in Srikakulam district that were battered by Cyclone Titli.
“At that time Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was on his Praja Sankalpa Yatra in the neighbouring Vizianagaram district. It was a calamity that had thrown about a million people onto the roads, but Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was unmoved by their suffering,” Mr. Pawan Kalyan alleged.
The ward and village volunteers were not seen anywhere as the government was using them for electioneering, the JSP president alleged, and questioned why should the volunteer system not be scrapped.
JSP leaders Chilakam Madhusudhan Reddy, P. Hari Prasad, Royal Kiran, T. Nagendra, B. Venkata Subbaiah, S. Srinivas, and T.C. Varun took part in the teleconference.