‘Release Rs.20 lakh to panchayats, not Sachivalayas’

PNS|Vijayawada

Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Chamber president and former MLC YVB Rajendra Prasad, Andhra Pradesh Sarpanches Association president Vanapalli Lakshmi and other leaders had darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy darshan at Tirumala, after being released from the police station on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Tirupati police arrested and shifted them to the police station when they took part in the agitation at the Alipiri stairway.

Rajendra Prasad told media persons that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was diverting the gram panchayat funds and neglecting the elected people’s representatives. He demanded that the State government release Rs.20 lakh for gram panchayats. Now, these funds have been allotted to the Sachivalayas, he said.

“We offered special pujas to Sri Venkateswara Swamy for giving wisdom to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Though the police obstructed a padayatra from Alipiri to Tirumala through the stairway, all sarpanches reached Tirumala,” he said.

Further, he demanded the release of a White Paper about the 12 demands of gram panchayat sarpanches. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is afraid of sarpanches, he commented.

His association would continue the agitations until the government resolves all their problems, he added. AP Panchayat Raj Chamber general secretary B Pratap Reddy, leaders S Subbaramaiah, K Muni Reddy, R Sudhakar, Eruva Naidu, Srinivas Yadav and others were present.