TDP’s toxic politics will become its own curse: Kasu Mahesh

Narasaraopet, Oct 19: Former MLA Kasu Mahesh Reddy said the TDP coalition was murdering democracy in the local-body elections and sowing a toxic political culture that would become its own curse.

Speaking in Narasaraopet, he said the government, fearing defeat, was using police to prevent YSRCP candidates from filing nominations through illegal arrests, bind-overs, fabricated cases and intimidation, while the State Election Commission functioned under the rulers’ direction. Power was never permanent, and every officer violating the law would face a Special Investigation Team inquiry when YSRCP returned under YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Mahesh said that if the coalition lacked the courage to conduct free elections, it should amend the Panchayat Raj and municipal laws and declare that whichever party ruled the state would control mandal presidencies, sarpanch posts and municipal councils.

He said police planted liquor bottles in a YSRCP candidate’s house at Dachepalli and then registered a false case after “discovering” them. At Gurazala, a candidate was preventively arrested on nomination day and obstructed the following day. In Dachepalli, even after the candidate approached court, filed the nomination and obtained a receipt for the deposit, the nomination was rejected on the false ground that the deposit was unpaid.

The Election Commission must act independently like T.N. Seshan, not as a servant of the ruling party, and protect the voting rights guaranteed by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, he said.

Mahesh warned police officers serving TDP leaders that constables involved in illegal house arrests would tomorrow give statements under Section 164 and expose the truth. He described the so-called unanimous victories engineered by Gurazala MLA Yarapathineni Srinivasa Rao as political suicides that denied people choice and development. He asserted that public disgust would deliver YSRCP a 30,000 to 40,000-vote majority in Gurazala.