No impact of TD's boycott on Parishad elections, says Vellampalli

VIJAYAWADA: Minister for endowment Vellampalli Srinivas Rao said on Wednesday that the government will examine the clauses and go in appeal against the dismissal of GO on appointment of special invitees to TTD.

Addressing the media, the minister said that Parishad results caused a lot of worry for the Opposition parties and that the results reinforced the people’s trust in the YSRC government.

The minister flayed the Telugu Desam for spreading the false propaganda in relation to the Gujarat narcotics seizure and said they have been crying foul as they were not able to digest their defeat in the recent polls.

He alleged that the TD has been indulging in cheap politics as it was unable to digest the growing popularity of the chief minister.

The minister said the TD and the Jana Sena had campaigned aggressively for the Panchayat and municipal polls and the BJP joined them for the Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll, but they failed to garner public support. Chief Minister Jagan has ensured social balance vis-à-vis the SCs, STs, BCs and the minorities in the appointment of chairpersons and directors of various corporations.

“Seven out of 13 ZP chairperson posts are going to women and 335 out of 660 MPPs are also listed for women.”

Srinivas said six of the total 13 ZP chairmen will be from the SC, ST and BC communities. Of the 660 MPP chairmen posts, 338 are going to SC, ST, BC and minorities.

The minister said the state government has, in the past two years, disbursed more than Rs 1 lakh crore directly to the people through direct benefit transfer (DBT) under various welfare schemes. “Naidu has lost his cool and is targeting the CM and the state government out of sheer frustration. TD leaders Nara Lokesh, Bonda Uma, Devineni Uma and Pattabhi have been trying to link the drugs case to the state government only to gain political mileage for themselves,” he said.

BJP PETITION

In a related development, the court also heard a petition filed by BJP leader and the trust board’s former member Bhanuprakash Reddy on the same counts.

Petitioner’s counsel Aswani Kumar argued that out of the members appointed to the trust board, only nine were eligible under section 19 of the AP Endowments Act, while some of them were having criminal cases. The court gave two weeks’ time to file counter-affidavits.