The Jana Sena Party (JSP) will extend its support to the BJP in the by-election to the Badvel Assembly seat on October 30, according to JSP Political Affairs Committee chairman N. Manohar.
Addressing the media here on Saturday, Mr. Manohar explained that as per a convention to facilitate a sitting deceased MLA’s family member to win the seat uncontested, the party had decided not to enter the fray. But the BJP, as per its national policy, had fielded P. Suresh in the by-election that had been necessitated by the death of YSRCP MLA G. Venkata Subbaiah.
“As an ally of the BJP, the JSP will fully back the BJP candidate in the election,” Mr. Manohar made it clear.
“Moreover, the convention had already been broken in the by-election in Tirupati in the past,” he added.
The YSRCP, which had come to power winning an overwhelming majority of 151 Assembly seats in 2019, had lost the confidence of all sections of people due to its “misrule,” Mr. Manohar opined.
“Ministers and ruling party MLAs too are a dissatisfied lot now,” the JSP leader claimed.
Financial crisis
A major financial crisis stared at the State in the wake of “indiscriminate borrowings” by the YSRCP government, Mr. Manohar said.
“There is nil development as the promised big-ticket projects remain only on paper. People are suffering due to power outages, especially in the rural areas,” he said after touring Parchur and other villages in Prakasam district.
“What has happened to the 1,000 MW solar power plant at Donakonda?” he asked.
“The mining sector is in doldrums due to the government’s unimaginative policy,” he said, and opposed the move to close a stretch of the highway to facilitate mining of black galaxy granite in Chimakurthy from beneath the road.
The JSP’s online campaign to highlight the woes of commuters had received good response with over one lakh postings on the bad condition of roads, Mr. Manohar said.
“Wherever the party sought to repair the roads, the government, in a pre-emptive measure, filled the potholes in a hurried manner. Motorists have been left to suffer in the other areas,” he added.
Party worker’s death
Justice eluded the family of the party worker, Vengaiah, in Prakasam district who had been forced to take the extreme step allegedly due to the “harassment by a ruling party MLA in Giddalur” after he had raised the bad condition of roads in his village, Mr. Manohar said, and urged Superintendent of Police to probe the case thoroughly.
Instead of resorting to personal attacks on JSP president Pawan Kalyan, Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy should focus his attention on development of Prakasam district, he said.
