Is It Fair To Use SCS For Political Mileage, Chandrababu?

Jaggampeta, East Godavari District: Firstly, it is a great experience to interact with people from 100 constituencies.

This region has the highest number of farmers who operate on leased land and not even a day goes by without hearing their woes. In fact they are now turning farm labourers. Just like Kanisetti Suryanarayana from Kattamuru. He has been farming on a leased land for over 30 years. For the last few years, he has been facing severe losses due to farming and is deep into debts. He prefers working as a labourer earning Rs 250 per day than carrying out farming on leased lands. In fact he has suggested the same to his children who are working as construction workers.

Unable to carry on with farming on leased lands, Madduri Venkataramana was making a living by selling fried corn. After having being a farmer for five decades, he gave up because there was no minimum support price and support from the government. Today Venkataramana is seen selling fried corn next to the land where he was farming and earning Rs 200 per day. “We were all happy during your father, DR YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s rule. We got subsidies, loans and compensation for crop losses. He was instrumental in getting Godavari water to the canal and making this place green,” he said recalling my father’s period.

Read: YS Jagan To Convene YSRCP Crucial Meet On Sunday

Venkataraman wished those days could come back. “Now we are finding it difficult even to find food,” saying thus the old man emotionally. This saddened me a lot. A person who took pride in his possession was today in such a miserable state.

Rafi from Errampalem in Gokavaram mandal came with family to meet me. He presented me with photos of Sri Rama, Alluri, Mother Theresa, Ambedkar and Kalam. Their love, trust over and my conviction will make me follow the path of  great human beings, whose photos Rafi gifted me.

I stepped into Jaggampet after multi-faith prayers. It was from this place on March 11, 2011 that I announced about starting a new party, which would be a People's party and follow the ideals of Dr YSR. It is an unforgettable event of my life. In the last elections people voted for YSRCP, but the elected representative became a victim of Chandrababu’s temptations in the name of development and changed his party affiliations.

The strength of YSRCP is its supporters and workers. The same Jaggampet today stands as the 100th constituency covered through my padayatra. This is indeed overwhelming. Yet another tragedy struck our state over Special Category Status to AP. Today, 26-year-old Sudhakar from Madanapalle committed suicide for the sake of SCS to AP. He is the victim of Central government’s cheating and state government’s betrayal. I am pained to see the plight of parents of Sudhakar, who lost their only child. Few days ago, Durga Rao lost his life due to heart attack while participating in a bandh demanding SCS to AP. Shouldn’t the government be held responsible for these deaths?

I have a question for the chief minister— Is it fair to use SCS issue, the lifeline of the state, for your political gains? After having said SCS was of no use and arresting people who supported SCS and being an ally of the BJP for four year, Chandrababu has been trying to bury the issue in many ways. Do you think people will trust you for taking a U-turn on SCS just six months before  elections? Will people forgive you for betraying them?