anasena Party’s Nadendla Manohar said on Thursday that it was common to dole out financial incentives to panchayat for unanimous elections but demanded that they should be held sans conspiracies.
“Incentives for unanimous elections are common anywhere. We also welcome them. But this state government is conspiring to bring forced unanimity. We can understand this very clearly,” said Manohar, who is party founder Pawan Kalyan’s aide.
Along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Somu Veerraju and others, Manohar met Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan on Thursday and made several requests.
“We discussed the prevailing political situation in Andhra Pradesh. We discussed the coming panchayat polls, law and order in the state, past experiences and disallowing nominations illegally,” he claimed.
Manohar said they urged the Governor to personally monitor the elections and issue directives to the government to uphold democracy.
He said that the opposition leaders reminded Harichandan about the alleged statements made by state Ministers and others on the polls.
The Janasena leader called for nominations at all places in the state with a festival-like celebration and also suggested that people should retaliate against the state government’s alleged conspiracies.
Manohar reiterated that Kalyan desires to encourage participation of the youth in politics.
“We also informed the Governor that farmers did not get compensated for the losses they suffered. Another important matter is attacks on temples,” he said.
Meanwhile, Andhra BJP President Somu Veerraju alleged that the government encouraged skirmishes in the past MPTC and ZPTC elections, leading to many injuries.
“At many places, YSCRP activists troubled the BJP and Janasena activists. In some districts, we observed that maximum ZPTCs witnessed unanimous elections,” he claimed.
He said such a situation should not be repeat in the coming polls.
Veerraju alleged that the YSRCP government was “not serious about temple attacks”, whose investigation it first entrusted to the CID and then formed an SIT.
He decried that the state government was filing cases against BJP cadres and ally’s activists, even for social media posts, and claimed that the Supreme Court disapproved of such activities.
He also accused the state government of encouraging communalism. “They are building churches with public money. Why are they building churches? Why is it (government) giving salaries to church pastors? All these issues have been conveyed to the Governor,” the BJP leader said.
