The State government led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress has failed on all fronts, and the common man is reeling under heavy inflation, TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh alleged.
Mr. Lokesh was on a whirlwind tour of Visakhapatnam city ahead of the GVMC polls, here on Thursday.
At a meeting in Gajuwaka, the TDP leader said that the price of a domestic LPG cylinder will soon cross the ₹1,000 mark and the price of petrol will cross ₹100 per litre. “The State government has failed to check the price of essential commodities as well as the prices of sand, cement and steel,” he said.
Critical of the door delivery of essential commodities, he said people instead of standing in a queue outside a ration shop are now standing at street corners to collect their ration from the vans.
Paying a visit to the camp site where employees of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant are on a relay hunger strike protesting its proposed privatisation, he said that the YSRCP has 28 MPs in Parliament, but despite that they were not aware of the proposed privatisation plan and neither could they forcefully voice their opinion or lodge a protest against the privatisation.
“The employees can bank on TDP for total support. Both the State and the Union governments should work out a strategy to make the plant profitable,” he said.
“The MPs were also not able to get any outcome on the Special Category Status,” he said.
At almost all the meetings, Mr. Lokesh spoke about the 10 points that are included in the TDP’s manifesto for the corporation and municipal polls.
Speaking to auto-rickshaw drivers and construction workers at Saraswati Park, he said that on one hand Mr. Jagan was giving ₹10,000 to auto-rickshaw drivers under the YSR Vahana Mitra scheme, but on the other hand he was extracting over ₹30,000 per year in way of fines.
Mr. Lokesh said he was informed by the auto-rickshaw drivers that the fines have risen by over 1000%, and that they were facing difficulties in paying them.
“I have been informed that only 20% of the auto-rickshaw drivers are recipients of the scheme,” he said.
Mr. Lokesh said that in the 10-point manifesto, the TDP would construct proper auto-rickshaw stands with clean drinking water and toilet facilities, if they won the GVMC polls.
The construction workers informed him about the increase in sand, cement and steel prices and said that unemployment has increased in the sector as a result.
Later, Mr. Lokesh interacted with students at a city hotel. He urged them to cast their franchise as it was their Constitutional right. He also advised them to be aware of civic issues and raise their voice wherever civic duties are not being done properly.
A few students spoke about some civic issues in their residential areas and how they were facing problems for the last one or two years, as the fee reimbursement was not being cleared by the State government. A few students also brought to his notice some issues regarding scholarship payments.
Mr. Lokesh also held a roadshow and public meeting at Bheemili and Anakapalle.