Invoking the Mahabharata, Congress leaders on Monday termed the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the ‘Dushta Chatushtayam’ of Andhra Pradesh, claiming that they were all under one umbrella led by the Modi-Shah duo at the Centre.
Leading a rally of 2,000 activists through the streets of Nagari, All India Congress Committee (AICC) joint secretary Krishna Allavaru and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) working president N. Tulasi Rao marched to the municipal office, protesting the hike in power tariff and rise in prices of essential commodities.
Addressing a public meeting largely attended by workers of the power loom sector, Mr. Allavaru said it was high time that the people of the State questioned the ‘mindless’ administration of the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government. “People of the State must realise that they are being politically and economically exploited due to the YSR Congress Party’s nexus with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre,” said Mr. Allavaru, who is also the All India Youth Congress in-charge.
“Compared to other States, the prices of fuel and essential commodities are much higher in Andhra Pradesh,” the AICC leader said, claiming that the State’s taxation policy was unclear on how the funds were being utilised.
Mr. Allavaru said that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had hiked electricity tariff several times in the last three years. “The Congress had ensured free power supply to farmers in 2004 in Andhra Pradesh during Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime. After 18 years, his son is desperate to do away with the policy by installing meters to agriculture connections. The YSRCP government is also terrorising the public with schemes such as One-Time Settlement (OTS) and linking the various welfare schemes to the power charges. Compared to the previous Congress government, the power tariff has seen a ten-fold increase in the last eight years,” he alleged.
Mr. Tulasi Reddy said that the Congress would go by the slogan of ‘Oust Dushta Chatushtayam’ in the State. “BJP stands for Babu-Jagan-Pawan. The Congress will intensify its campaign to expose the nexus among the four parties. It is deplorable that the State stands third in farmer suicides in the country,” the APCC working president alleged.
