CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat addressed a large rally in Suryapet on April 2 in support of the party candidate from Nalgonda parliamentary constituency in Telangana, Mallu Laxmi.
Addressing the rally in Suryapet, Karat said 75 per cent of the parliamentarians were rich and lacked understanding of the problems faced by the common people. Women in the country are facing multiple problems, but there is barely any force in Parliament to take up their fight. Both the Congress and the BJP have delayed the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. The BJP-led government at the Centre has completely ruined the social fabric of the country with its politics based on religious hatred. People and parties with money power do not have a consistent policy. They do politics for the sake of money. In Telangana, even though candidates of the TRS, BJP and the Congress are in the fray, there is no guarantee that they will continue with their respective parties after the election. If democracy in India has to be saved, the BJP must be defeated, Karat said and called upon the people to elect Mallu Laxmi, who can raise the voice of the people and their problems in Parliament.
CPI(M) Telangana secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, State Secretariat members G Ramulu and Julakanti Ranga Reddy, and Suryapet district secretary Mulakapalli Ramulu also addressed the rally.
Several other meetings and rallies were organised in Suryapet and Nalgonda districts on April 1 and 2 and senior party leaders attended them. Addressing an election meeting, Mallu Laxmi said only the Communists fight for the people. In Parliament and state assemblies, only the Communists will raise people’s issues and make effort to solve them.
CPI(M) state secretary Veerabhadram also addressed two meetings in support of party candidate from Khammam constituency B Venkat. Targeting the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), he said the party is functioning in a dictatorial manner in Telangana and asserted that if Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao tries to deny any place for the Opposition, then a situation will develop where people will revolt against him.
The CPI(M) and the CPI is jointly contesting in four out of 17 parliamentary constituencies in Telangana. The CPI(M) has fielded candidates in Khammam and Nalgonda seats, while the CPI nominees are fighting from Mahabubabad and Bhongir constituencies. (END)
Telangana Legislative Council Election
THE ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) received a jolt in the recent Legislative Council election. Sitting MLC and TRS-backed candidate in the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers’ Constituency, Poola Ravinder, was defeated by Alugubelli Narsi Reddy, the former president of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF). Reddy, the candidate of a joint action committee of teachers’ organisations, secured 9,024 votes and defeated his nearest rival Poola Ravinder by 2,729. There were total nine candidates in the fray.
Reddy’s victory gives teachers in state-run schools, colleges and universities and contract employees a strong and formidable voice against the tyranny of the current dispensation. A person of impeccable integrity and dedication, Reddy would be representing the academicians in the Legislative Council. He would be continuing the democratic legacy of his predecessors such as Dachuri Rami Reddy, Chukka Ramaiah and Prof. Nageshwar who strived for quality education and equality in education. It is a great achievement to unite all like-minded teachers’ unions in the fight against the government's apathy and privatisation drive and in the struggle to strengthen government education system.
In the Adilabad-Nizamabad-Medal-Karimnagar Teachers’ Constituency, former chief whip P Sudhakar Reddy was defeated by Kura Raghotham Reddy of the Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU) and in the Graduate Constituency, the TRS-supported candidate M Chandrashekar Goud was defeated by T Jeevan Reddy, a former minister in the Congress-led government.
The Legislative Council election clearly reflects that the youth and government employees, who were at the forefront of a separate Telangana agitation, are disappointed by the ruling party's apathy to fulfil its promises made in the past. The development mantra of the TRS is just a lip service with no new recruitments or regularisation of contract employees, and budget cuts in education. (END)
