Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Andhra Pradesh unit president Somu Veerraju on Sunday alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had turned the Panchayat Raj system ‘lifeless by introducing the system of volunteers’. He demanded that the State government must return the funds taken from the panchayats immediately.
“The Panchayat Raj (PR) system is the backbone of rural India. The previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government had crippled the system through its Janmabhoomi Committees in Andhra Pradesh. Now, the YSRCP is doing the same with the volunteer system. The sidelining of the Panchayat Raj funds has impoverished the panchayats,” Mr. Veerraju told the media at Madanapalle. t
Pointing out that sarpanches were struggling to go ahead with the developmental works, the BJP leader said, “Auditing should be done four times a year during grama sabhas, which has not been in practice in Andhra Pradesh. Several other procedures have also lost seriousness,” he said.
Mr. Veerraju said that during his tour of the Rayalaseema region, he found that several upland areas were hit by drinking water shortage. “Both the former TDP government and the present YSRCP government have resorted to vain talks on the Polavaram project, and ignored the water projects in the Rayalaseema region,” he said.
Even as the Central government was ready with a plethora of subsidy schemes for the food processing industries, there were no encouraging proposals from the State government, alleged Mr. Veerraju.
Replying to a question, the BJP State chief said that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had thrown the State into a debt trap, and the people should realise it.
Terming the YSRCP as a “family and trading party’, Mr. Veerraju said that the BJP was committed to the development of Andhra Pradesh.
Dig at Naidu
The BJP leader also took a dig at the Chandrababu Naidu government for its ‘failure’ to construct the capital city in Amaravati despite being in power for five years. “The Central government has liberally provided funds for the Polavaram project and development of Amaravati, but the State government has not been utilising them,” he said.
In the evening, Mr. Veerraju visited the BJP office in Chittoor and interacted with the party cadres.
