People's Democracy

  Prajasakti Gets Its Seventh Edition

                                                                    M Venugopala Rao

TELUGU daily Prajasakti added to its arsenal one more edition, the seventh (Godavari) edition from Rajahmundry, on May 24. While the union minister of state for coal, Dasari Narayana Rao, inaugurated this edition’s office, the state’s minister for roads and buildings, Jakkampudi Ramamohana Rao, released the first issue. 

Speaking on the occasion, Narayana Rao said democracy would survive only if the press stood up as opposition. Saying that newspapers should not be selfish, he asked them to stand by the people and raise their issues, even when individuals and parties in the opposition act selfishly. Ideology has been the very lifeblood of Prajasakti, he said. While articulating the problems of the poor and toiling masses, Prajasakti has also been enlightening them, Narayana Rao added. Pointing out that sensation alone is no news, he said competition for sensational news was increasing in print media on the lines of electronic media. He wished Prajasakti many more editions and flourish in both the Godavari districts. 

Ramamohana Rao said the start of the Rajahmundry edition of a working class newspaper like Prajasakti augured well. There was nothing special about big capitalists running newspapers but, he opined, it was crucial for a newspaper like Prajasakti, which was being read by common people, to hold its fortress in a world of competition. He asked Prajasakti to keep propagating the values it has been standing for and reinforce the people’s struggles.

V Krishnaiah (general manager, Prajasakti) presided over the function that a large number of people attended. Prajasakti editor V Srinivasa Rao, assistant editor S Venkatrao, U Arun Kumar and G V Harsha Kumar (members of parliament), D Janardhana Rao (East Godavari zilla parishad chairman), M S Chakravarthy (Rajahmundry mayor), R Suryaprakasa Rao, B Krishnarjuna Choudary, Ch Jaggireddy, P Subba Rao and T Narasimham (MLAs), D Subba Rao and M Sitaram (secretaries of the CPI(M)’s East and West Godavari district committees), G S Rao (former MLA) and the CPI’s East Godavari district council secretary M Satyanarayana also addressed the gathering.