Ahead of Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu’s 12-hour ‘sand deeksha’ to highlight the scarcity of sand in the State, at Dharna Chowk at Alankar Centre here, senior Telugu Desam Party leaders K. Atchannaidu and Varla Ramaiah urged Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, their former ally, to support the campaign and mount pressure on the government.
The duo met Mr. Pawan Kalyan at his house in the city on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Atchannaidu said they had invited all political parties, including the BJP, the CPI, the CPI(M), Lok Satta, and the Congress and initially, all their representatives responded positively.
He said the hunger strike on “artificial sand scarcity and suicides of building workers” by Mr. Naidu and other leaders of the TDP was to “wake up” Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy from his “slumber.”
Mr. Varla Ramaiah said 45 building workers had committed suicide till date in the State. The YSRCP government should not stand on prestige and roll back its decisions that had led to the crisis in the interest of people, he added.
Main demands
The main demands of the TDP are seamless supply of sand, action on the mafia that has been transporting sand to neighbouring States, compensation of ₹25 lakh each for deceased workers’ families and ₹10,000 allowance per month for building workers to compensate the loss of livelihood.
The JSP, supported by the TDP, organised a ‘long march’ in Visakhapatnam recently against the sand policy.
