Do You Remember The First Files You Signed, Chandrababu?  

Durgammapeta, Srikakulam district: My Padayatra proceeded through Kotabommali mandal today. People met me in large numbers. This happens to be a minister’s mandal and yet the problems are just as many as elsewhere. As for progress, there are no traces of it. If anything, the problems have multiplied, thanks to the minister, the locals pointed out. I wonder if a cabinet position should help alleviate people’s suffering and problems or add to their misery? Villagers told me that there were as many as 13 belt shops in one single village alone. Though their health was getting destroyed, there was no one whom they could approach, they lamented. They also told me that what was sold here was adulterated liquor. Companies bottled cheap liquor and sold it in the name of premium brands, villagers complained.

They said that the minister had a role in this sordid affair and therefore, the officials were helpless. It is indeed inhuman to resort to such illegal practices of accumulating wealth at the cost of people’s lives. Womenfolk of Yalamanchili said that atrocities perpetrated in the minister’s constituency were seemingly endless and went unchecked. It was clear that discrimination was at an all-time high in these parts.

As soon as the TDP government came to power, it withdrew the power of signing cheques which the local lady Sarpanch had. She went to the High Court and got it restored legally, only to find that the government withdrew it once again after sometime. How tyrannical is this? Though they fulfilled all eligibility criteria, pensions were scrapped for 80 people. Sadly, this inhuman act included 98-year-old Dumpala Lachamma, her widowed daughter who is a daily wage labourer and 90 year-old Potnuru Chinnamma, who is totally blind! They also withdrew the ration in the case of all of them.

Similarly, they cancelled the ration dealership of a physically challenged individual Kona Appanna, and subjected him to great psychological torture. The unfortunate man died of worry and depression, villagers said. The heartless TDP government withdrew pensions three months after some villagers went to court and got them restored. They resorted to similar discrimination when it came to compensation and cyclone relief. The little that was given was only to those affiliated to the ruling TDP. Does the cyclone discriminate and cause devastation only in the case of a single party? Does it choose those belonging to TDP? Why this discrimination when it comes to cyclone relief?

Lalitha, a schoolgirl met me amidst thousands of people. She said that she ran for 2 kms to come and meet me and lost her slippers in the bargain. Someone even stamped on her feet in the jostling and yet she came running to greet me with utmost determination. The moment she met me, she broke down. I was deeply moved by her display of affection and I too, was overcome with emotion.

A group of dalits met me near Kotabommali. They told me that 23 Dalit families had been cultivating 7 acres of land there for 40 years. As it turns out, land prices in the area shot up. As soon as the TDP government came to power, ruling party leaders set their sights on land which these families had been using for cultivation. They forcibly occupied the land claiming that a degree college and civil supplies stock points would be built there. All this was done with the support and patronage of the minister, they lamented. Even though the tenure of this government is coming to a close, not a brick has been laid for the purpose which they cited, the villagers pointed out. This itself shows the greed which drove this entire affair, they said.

I have a question for the chief minister— is it not true that when you first became the chief minister, it was then that belt shops came into existence for the first time? Belt shops have been increasing in every single village with excise revenue targets being set. Is this not true? What do you have to say to this? Scrapping belt shops was among the first files you affixed your signature upon. Do you have any memory of this? Is it not humiliating for you to see that the first signature on a file by you is the first act of deception on your part as chief minister?