Congress senior leader Chinta Mohan welcomed the meeting of YSR Telangana Party chief Y.S. Sharmila with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Thursday, ahead of the elections to the Lok Sabha and the assemblies of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing the media after touring Dakkali, Rapur and Sydapuram, he said the meeting augured well for the nation at a time when the Congress was roping in more and more like-minded parties into Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to unseat the ‘‘anti-people’‘ Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Ms. Sharmila vowed to strengthen the hands of Mr. Rahul, whom her father and former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had wished to see as Prime Minister, he recalled.
Terming the reduction in cooking gas prices by ₹200 a cylinder announced by the Narendra Modi government as too less and too late for the upcoming elections, he said the Congress, when voted to power, would ensure supply of cooking gas at ₹500 a cylinder and check the rise in prices of all essentials, including vegetables, groceries and fuel, as the common man was struggling to get by following the heavy dose of central and state taxes. Fuel prices in Andhra Pradesh under the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime were the highest in the country, he said.
Accusing the YSR Congress Party government of squandering ₹2.50 lakh crore on ‘Navaratnalu‘ welfare schemes, he said over ₹1.35 lakh crore remain unaccounted for. Had the sum spent on projects at a rate of ₹10,000 crore a district, the State would have witnessed all-round development, he reasoned, adding that it was unfortunate that big-ticket projects, including the Mannavaram BHEL-NTPC power plant and the Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line, remained a non-starter.
