Party above self: Chiru

SEZ Act will be amended to undo injustice: PRP chief

State-level body to explore gas reserves, he says

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Kakinada: The Praja Rajyam party (PRP) has resolved to allocate not less than 100 seats for the Backward Classes and give priority for women’s representation in the Legislative Council.

A good number of women are being fielded in the coming elections to the Assembly but the party is not promising them 33 per cent quota right now, says party president K. Chiranjeevi.

Addressing a press conference at Valasapakala here on Saturday before resuming his Praja Ankita Yatra in East Godavari district, Mr. Chiranjeevi said the PRP’s commitment to social justice was evident from the first list of candidates announced by it on Friday, wherein a majority of the 100 nominees belonged to the weaker sections.

Malicious propaganda

Those staging protests were doing so because they could not secure nominations for themselves and their selfish actions created the perception that PRP’s talk of social justice was mere rhetoric. The PRP was also wrongly accused of selling ticket to rich people due to malicious propaganda carried out by coverts.

Mr. Chiranjeevi observed that those genuinely concerned about the party would keep extending their selfless services, irrespective of personal setbacks, and the PRP would certainly reward such sincere workers. The PRP was examining the possibility of nominating fans at two or three places, and by fans it did not mean only the registered ones.

Mr. Chiranjeevi said the PRP would not hesitate to make amends to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Act to undo the injustice meted to farmers, fishermen and other marginalised sections in the guise of development. He regretted that the SEZs resulted in massive displacement, particularly of farmers whose sole source of livelihood was their agricultural lands.

Mr. Chiranjeevi stated that his party would strive to corner the due share of Andhra Pradesh in gas reserves discovered by the Reliance Industries Limited and that AP State gas corporation would be set up to undertake natural gas exploration and production. These projects would help in mitigating the power shortage that was common during the Congress and the TDP regimes.