TRS Weakening Panchayati Raj: Congress

TPCC President and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today accused the TRS government of systematically weakening the panchayats, mandal parishads and zilla parishads in the state.

Addressing a meeting at the Gandhi Bhavan along with various Congress leaders, including TPCC Working President Ponnam Prabhakar, MLC T Jeevan Reddy and MLA Jagga Reddy, and AICC Panchayati Raj Sangathan officials, including Vice Chairman Harshvardhan Sapkal and state in-charge Kiran Mugabasav, he alleged that the KCR government had completely crushed the panchayat system in Telangana.

"The TRS leaders have ruined the panchayats in the state with their corrupt ways. The party has looted the panchayats by forcing them to buy tractors, LEDs, lights and other material from the agencies of its choice to secure hefty commissions. This is proof of the fact that politics in Telangana has turned into a business ever since K Chandrashekhar Rao became the Chief Minister in 2014," Reddy said.

He then went on to discuss how the "systematic weakening" of the rural local bodies, and the erosion of the powers of the sarpanches and other officials in the state, was affecting the rural populace.

He pointed out that the elected representatives in the local bodies not only understood the "pulse of the people", but also worked to resolve the issues being faced by the people, and claimed that, despite this, the TRS government had been undercutting the bodies, and insulting the sarpanches.

The MP alleged that the government had not even been allocating the requisite funds to the mandal and zilla parishads, and that it had also been withholding the funds released by the Finance Commission.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his government was not clearing the bills of panchayats either, he added.

"Due to the deliberate attempts of the TRS government to destroy the local bodies, the mandal and zilla parishads are in an extremely bad shape. They have neither the funds nor the power to function properly. The situation can only be remedied if the problems of the sarpanches and other village leaders are brought to the fore through monthly meetings," the MP said.

He claimed that the Congress was the only party that had the political vision and ideology to take such steps and to revive the panchayat system in the state.

"Strengthening the Congress in rural areas will enable it to return to power in the next Assembly elections. This will be beneficial to the rural local bodies as the Congress is a party part of whose ideology it is to support the panchayat system," Reddy added.

To pressurise the TRS government to take steps to rejuvenate the local bodies, the leaders present at the meeting decided that they would organise a day-long protest at the Indira Park in Hyderabad on December 22 to highlight the problems being faced by the Panchayati Raj institutions.

They reportedly also decided that they would submit a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Resuming his attack on the ruling party, the TPCC chief then claimed that the TRS leaders were engaging in "undemocratic acts" by harassing the elected representatives of the Congress and pressuring them to join the TRS.

"The Congress will strongly counter the state government's efforts to force elected representatives of other parties to defect to the ruling party. Such practices pose a major threat to the survival of democracy in Telangana. The Congress is reinventing itself, and preparing for the 2024 Assembly elections. The party will return to power and end the misrule of the TRS. We will ensure that KCR's family goes into political oblivion," he said.