‘My message to people of India is that we have to oust BJP govt’
HYDERABAD: Surrounded by cameras and CPI(M) workers, re-elected party general secretary Sitaram Yechury spoke to
about how poll tactics will ensure maximisation of anti-bjp votes.
Saubhadra Chatterji
This is a big responsibility that has to be discharged. I will try to do that to the best of my ability. This was the congress of unity and the congress of determination. The determination to defeat the attack mounted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) against the Indian people. The determination is also to provide a policy-based alternative but the primary objective to achieve it would be to ensure the RSS BJP government is ousted. We have decided that at the time of elections, appropriate tactics will be used to maximise the polling of anti-bjp votes in accordance with our political line. We have to always give the mes- sage of unity. I didn’t count how many times I used the word. But I know Ho Chi Minh said when he was leading the Vietnamese revolution that “preserve the unity and oneness of mind in the party as the apple of the eye”. Unity is our biggest weapon.
My message is to the people of India and everybody; we have to ensure this government is ousted. My message to the working and struggling people is that intensify your struggle and we shall be there. My message is not to any one party, area or group. HYDERABAD: With further financial support from the Centre becoming uncertain following the break-up in the TDP-BJP alliance, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to tap into all possible resources to mobilise funds for his dream project of giving capital Amaravati a concrete shape before the 2019 general elections.
Going by the pace of work, Naidu had been facing an uphill task to showcase progress due to the paucity of funds. But with financial agencies such as Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) and World Bank sanctioning funds, besides commercial banks agreeing to loans, the scenario may change soon. During a review meeting recently, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), which is overseeing the development of Amaravati, put the total cost of capital construction at ~48,115 crore, which might go up to ~58,000 crore in the next 20 years.
The Centre, however, gave only ~1,500 crore in the last three years, while the state sent proposals for another ~1,000 crore for this year. “But not a single rupee was allocated in the Union budget for Amaravati this year,” Naidu said in the meeting. The TDP government has so far mobilised ~16,810 crore through financial agencies and bank loans. While Hudco sanctioned ~1,275 crore in December last year for infrastructure works such as roads, a World Bank loan for ~3,324 crore is expected in a month or two, which will be used for major arterial roads, flood mitigation and to upgrade village infrastructure.
“Commercial banks are providing financial assistance of ₹2,026 crore for the housing projects,” APCRDA commissioner Cherukuri Sridhar said.