Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national general secretary N. Lokesh has promised to render justice to the people displaced by the Gandikota project by providing them with the due compensation and livelihood opportunities if his party is voted to power.
The Yuva Galam padayatra of Mr. Lokesh entered Kadapa, the native district of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, on May 24 (Wednesday). Interacting with a group of evacuees of the Gandikota and Rajoli projects at Suddapalli village in Jammalamadugu constituency, Mr. Lokesh pointed out that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his visit to the colonies in 2020, had promised to render justice to the evacuees, but to no avail.
“Had the YSRCP government spent a mere ₹200 crore, all problems of the evacuees would have been addressed. But, people were forced to vacate their houses overnight with the help of the police. Forget about the rest of the State, the Chief Minister has failed to do justice to the farmers from his native district,” said Mr. Lokesh.
‘No Rythu Rajyam’
Mr. Lokesh said that he had not ‘seen a trace of the peasants’ regime (Rythu Rajyam) anywhere in Rayalaseema’, a metaphor for prosperity promised by the YSRCP ahead of the elections. “In the last 108 days, what I could see is a regime without peasants,” he quipped.
The TDP leader promised that the evacuees of Gandikota project would be given the due compensation and livelihood opportunities by setting up small-scale industries in the locality if the TDP is voted to power in 2024.
Mr. Lokesh suggested that setting up tomato and mango processing units across Rayalaseema would help meet the demand-supply gap and offer remunerative prices to farmers. Finding the panchayats ‘completely crippled’, he said the villages were surviving only because of the roads and buildings constructed during the TDP regime. He also promised to complete the bridge connecting Sajjaladinne with Sankepalli.
