A silent protest was organised by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders to highlight the ‘failures of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government’ in handling COVID-19 pandemic and to demand a better deal to the poor, at the party office here on Monday.
Former Minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar and party leaders Peela Govind Satyanarayana, Rama Naidu and V. Anita participated in the protest. They said that TDP cadres were distributing sanitisers and essential commodities to the public, responding to the call given by the party chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. They also stayed away from the birthday celebrations of Mr. Naidu. They alleged that the Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders failed to meet the needs of the people but were criticising Mr. Naidu all the time.
They explained that the Centre had given ₹12,000 crore to the State to meet the medical needs in view of the pandemic. In addition to this ₹6,000 crore was released under the 14th Finance Commission funds and the RBI was also ready to extend funds. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken to all leaders, irrespective of the political affiliations, and sought their cooperation in checking the spread of COVID-19.
The TDP chief had spoken to the people thrice on the crisis. They wondered as to what the State government was doing except paying salaries of the employees. How can a family survive on the ₹1,000 being doled by the government? Even if ₹5,000 was given to each family, it would amount to a mere ₹4,000 crore. Masks were not yet ready and no funds were given for rural development, they alleged.
The TDP leaders also alleged that positive cases were growing but the District Collector was not declaring them and the medical officials were behaving like YSRCP workers. They demanded release of a White Paper on positive cases in Vizag. They alleged that the YSRCP leaders were trying to declare Vizag as a green zone and execute the decision to make the city as the capital of the State.
