Press Releases Archive

Lok Satta asks Babu to disclose full facts: Heritage affair

The Lok Satta Party today wanted leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to disclose full facts concerning Heritage Foods’ deals and dispel people’s apprehensions over their legitimacy.

Referring to the controversy kicked off by the expose in Telugu daily ‘Sakshi’, the Lok Satta party said that the Heritage Foods’ promoters who include Mr. Chandrababu Naidu’s family should remember that a Ceaser’s wife should be above suspicion.

Briefing the media, party spokesman Katari Srinivasa Rao and Working Committee member Laxman Balaji said that regulatory agencies like SEBI should look into allegations of malfeasance and take appropriate action since Heritage Foods is a listed company. But that should not detract the promoters’ family from taking the public into confidence without taking shelter behind a technical and legal facade.

Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 16:33

Publish CBI report on ORR, demands Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today demanded that the Government publish the CBI report on irregularities in the execution of the Outer Ring Road project in the context of news reports that it had consigned the CBI report and its recommendations to the wastepaper basket.

Party spokesman Katari Srinivasa Rao and Working Committee member N. Ravinder told the media that the Government has so far refused to part with the report in response to the Lok Satta’s request for it under the Right to Information Act. They recalled that the Government had ordered the CBI inquiry following an uproar in the State over allegations of irregularities committed by officials and politicians. The leaders noted that the studied silence of the Telugu Desam Party, which had sought a CBI inquiry, was strange.

The Lok Satta Party demanded that the CBI be immunized from political pressures. The UPA Government had sought to reopen the disproportionate assets case against UP Chief Minister Mayawati and bury the ones against Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav to punish the former and reward the later for opposing and supporting the Government in the confidence vote on the nuclear deal. Now the CPM was trying to stall CBI prosecution of its Kerala leader Pinarayi Vijayan in a corruption case. The Lok Satta said that the CBI should be shielded from attempts by political parties to influence its working.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - 17:30

Godavari delta crisis partly man made: Lok Satta

The Godavari delta farmers are undergoing a crisis because of the Irrigation Department’s failure to ensure timely water supply for the second crop. While it is a fact that the inflows into the reservoirs have been inadequate, the authorities have failed to ensure equitable distribution of the available water.

Talking to the media, party Working Committee members Bandaru Ramamohan Rao and Laxman Balaji said the water supply was initially delayed in the name of delta modernization works. When water was finally released, the department could not ensure judicious use of water by farmers in the upper reaches. Overtaken by a psychosis of continuing scarcity, farmers started using more water than warranted. The surreptitious release of water to benefit aqua farmers in connivance with officials aggravated the problem. The silting in the upstream of the barrage too contributed to the problem.

The Lok Satta demanded that the Government educate farmers on water management practices and punish the guilty so that the problem does not recur in the next season.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - 16:29

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