People's Democracy

INTERVIEW WITH B V RAGHAVULU

�An Isolated Congress  Can Be Defeated In AP�

The coming together of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), CPI(M) and CPI in Andhra Pradesh with the common purpose of defeating the Congress party in both the general elections and the election to the state assembly has unnerved that party no end. When compared to 2004 elections, the Congress party today stands isolated in the state, both politically and socially. It is resorting to unprecedented use of money power to somehow manage to remain in power.

This was stated by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and secretary of Andhra Pradesh state committee, B V Raghavulu, in an interview to People�s Democracy in New Delhi during the recent meeting of the Central Committee.

Below we give excerpts from the interview.

(Que) : What are the distinct features of the election scenario in Andhra Pradesh this time?

In the 2004 elections, the Left parties and TRS had separately supported the Congress party. This time they along with the TDP are working jointly to ensure the defeat of the Congress. It is only the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which is basically a Hyderabad-centred party, that is extending indirect support to the Congress. So, Congress is today politically isolated in the state.

A new factor in this election is the formation of Praja Rajyam party by actor Chiranjeevi. According to our estimate this is also going to harm the prospects of the Congress party as the Kapu community, which had always been with the Congress, will shift to Chiranjeevi.

The third important feature is the establishment of the fact among the people � through a series of exposures relating to Satyam, Maytas, YSR family businesses etc � that the Y S Rajashekar Reddy government is the most corrupt government the state has ever had.

Another feature is the divisive issues relating to the formation of separate Telangana state and the categorisation of dalits are going to harm the Congress the most because the people perceive that it has betrayed its promises on these issues.

The Congress party, which at a stage thought that these elections would be a cakewalk for it, is today so jittery that it has almost written off Telangana region after the coming together of these four parties.

(Que) : Is corruption such a big issue as to decide the outcome of the polls?

A series of corruption scandals have been rocking the government for a long time, be it in irrigation projects, allotment of SEZs, power projects etc and they were having a gradual effect among the people. But the last three months have witnessed the exposure of mega corruption scandals of Satyam, Maytas etc which clearly established the complicity of government bigwigs in these scandals. The chief minister colluded with Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju, enabling him to acquire around 6000 acres of land in benami. The latest exposure relating to YSR family business scandals, involving primarily his son Y S Jagan, have clearly shown the mega corruption of this government. The modus operandi has been that government does undue favours to business houses and individuals who then repay their gratitude through huge investments in the chief minister�s family businesses. For example, the business tycoon Dalmia purchased significant chunk of shares of Bharti Cement Corporation, owned by Y S Jagan, at a whopping premium of Rs 1440 per share of face value of Rs 10.

So, people are able to recognise and feel outraged at this scale of corruption, which will harm the Congress in the coming polls.

(Que) : What is the Congress game plan for these elections?

Now they are hoping on only two things: money power and liquor. A part of the illegal wealth amassed in the last five years is set to be thrown into the elections. The talk is that they are prepared to spend around Rs 10 crore on each MLA. They are trying to lure disgruntled elements in other parties and finance their candidatures in order to split the opposition vote. Another thing they are depending on is the free flow of liquor during the polls. The state government recently issued a G.O. allowing increased production and distribution of liquor in the state.

Hundreds of crores of rupees are being spent on publicity, both in print and electronic media. Almost in every TV channel they are having paid half-an-hour slots of publicity. For example on November 1, which is AP formation day, the government released around Rs 20 crore worth of advertisements in the print media alone. So, they are pinning their hopes on this high voltage propaganda barrage.

(Que) : But there is a perception that the welfare schemes implemented by the state government may help the Congress in the polls.

There is no doubt that the chief minister is largely banking on these schemes to see him through these elections. But there is more hype than actual implementation. Moreover, there is corruption in all these schemes with people belonging to the Congress party largely benefiting.

Under the Indiramma housing scheme, the government claims it has already built 20 lakh houses for the poor and that another 20 lakh would be completed by the end of this month. Not only are these figures fudged but those which have been actually completed were also done with large monetary contribution by the allottees themselves. The NREGA funds have also been diverted to this scheme. Among the other schemes on which they have kept hopes include the pension scheme for old age people and widows, the 25 paise interest rate for DWACRA groups, the central government�s loan waiver scheme, of which AP has been the biggest beneficiary. Although the Congress party is hoping to get a big return in terms of votes from these schemes, our feeling is that it may not happen. The factors outlined above may nullify the Congress hopes to return to power. Arithmetically, the combination of these four parties has distinct advantage over Congress and although the Chiranjeevi factor is unpredictable, our assessment is he may damage Congress prospects more.

(Que) : Chandrababu Naidu has an image of being a hardcore neo-liberal. How is the Left allying with him now?

When we broke with the Telugu Desam party we had made it clear that our break is due to his association with the BJP and not due to his neo-liberal economic policies, against which we were fighting hard. When we supported Congress in 2004 also we had no illusions about their economic policies. Even tomorrow if Chandrababu Naidu comes to power and pursues the same economic policies, we will fight against them.

(Que) : How do you justify going with TRS which is a party striving for the formation of a separate Telangana state?

We are not compromising our Party�s position on this issue. We are not changing our position and we continue to reiterate that mere formation of Telangana state would not solve the problems of the people and the region�s backwardness. At the same time we are not confronting the sentiment among people for a separate state and are only constructively projecting that the solution to the problems of Telangana can be found in a united state also. We differ with the TRS on this issue but we are united on defeating the Congress.

(Que) : What is the situation in regard to seat sharing among the four parties and are you confident about achieving the ground level unity among these parties?

The Congress is hoping for a situation where there will be rupture of this unity. But it is not going to happen. There are problems like between TDP and TRS and between CPI(M) and CPI on a few seats. But these would be sorted out in the coming few days. As for the number of seats CPI(M) would fight, we are thinking of around 3 Lok Sabha and around 25 assembly seats.