Chiru's merger decision an affront to voters: LSP

The Lok Satta Party on Wednesday refuted Praja Rajyam president K Chiranjeevi’s contention that people voted for the PRP out of personal affection towards him and not as an alternative to the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party.

“Mr Chiranjeevi’s comments are an affront to the more than 70 lakh people who voted him in the 2009 general election,” said Lok Satta Party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, G Raja Reddy and V Vijayender Reddy.

Addressing media persons here today, the Lok Satta leaders said Mr Chiranjeevi seemed to nurse the illusion of being a hero even in politics. But unlike in movies, voters are the real heroes in politics. In politics, politicians exist to serve people and not the other way round.

The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that Mr Chiranjeevi had let down people by throwing his agenda to the winds, merging his party with the Congress and pledging to abide by its decisions.

People believed that as a charismatic leader, Mr Chiranjeevi would provide an alternative to the Congress and the TDP. Instead, Mr Chiranjeevi seemed to view voters as mere flag bearers and voting machines who could be taken for a ride.

Mr Srinivasa Rao, Mr Raja Reddy and Mr Vijayender Reddy said deification of leaders is prevalent in some other traditional parties too. They regard politics as their private property.

In contrast to such parties, the Lok Satta believes in pursuing citizen-centric politics. People thirsting for new politics should embrace the Lok Satta Party, they said.

The Lok Satta leaders demanded that the Hindujas be asked to supply power from their proposed Visakhapatnam thermal power plant at NTPC rates as agreed to earlier, considering that the Government had allocated them land at a concessional rate and facilitated coal linkages. If the Hindujas’ demand for a higher rate of even a rupee per unit is conceded, the 1000 mw plant with a potential to produce 20 million units a day would impose a burden of Rs. 2 crore a day or more than Rs 700 crore a year on the people of the State.

The Lok Satta leaders also questioned the Government rationale in encouraging establishment of plants to generate three times more than the nearly 15,000 mw the State needs. Of that, nearly 28,000 mw is to come from merchant power plants. Such skewed policies may encourage economic growth in other States but saddle the State with avoidable pollution.