KCR must operate from Secretariat: Congress

Hyderabad, April 29 (INN): The Congress party on Monday proposed amendments in relevant laws to make Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao accountable and accessible to the people in the State.

Reacting to the proposed amendments in the Panchayat Raj Act to fix duties and responsibilities for elected representatives and officials in Panchayat Raj institutions, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said that KCR must first perform his duties and fulfil responsibilities as the Chief Minister. "KCR has always acted as a politician and TRS President than behaving like a Chief Minister. He never acted as a true representative of nearly 4 crore people of Telangana. His sole focus, since June 2, 2014, has been to gain political strength for his party even at the cost of violating the Constitution," he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the proposed amendments in Panchayat Raj Act reportedly moot disqualification of ZP Chairman, MPP President and Vice-President if they do not come to office continuously for 15 days. "If the same rule is applied to KCR, then he would have got disqualified as Chief Minister for more than 50 times. He is apparently the only Chief Minister who does not come to the Secretariat. In his last term, he visited Secretariat only about 25 times. In the second term, KCR took oath as CM on December 13, 2018 and even after 4 months and 17 days he did not visited the Secretariat even once," he said.

"KCR's superstitious beliefs have completely destroyed the administration in Telangana State. The Chief Minister either operates from Pragathi Bhavan or takes rest at his farm house and he apparently feels unsafe in the Secretariat. Previously, the Chief Ministers used to meet general public and public representatives at the Secretariat. But now common people have absolutely no access to the Chief Minister. Further, he said the MPs, MLCs and MLAs and even the ministers have no direct access to the Pragathi Bhavan. Before giving lessons to the ZPs and MPPs on being accessible and accountable to people, KCR should set an example for them by start going to the Secretariat from today onwards," advised Gudur Narayana Reddy.

The Congress leader said that there were no flaws in existing laws although a few of them might need timely amendments. "Successful democracies are run not by framing new laws every month, but by following all existing laws in true letter and spirit. KCR has never shown any respect for the Constitution and openly violated the laws without any fear. Violation of Anti-Defection Law is the major political crime committed by KCR wherein he encouraged defections in opposition parties. While the Constitution provides for election of public representatives in a democratically held election, KCR replaced it with horse trading. In a democracy, one has to respect the people's verdict and accept it even if they have elected a candidate belonging to opposition parties. However, KCR has ridiculed the people's judgment by making the opposition party MLAs defect to TRS. Therefore, instead of giving moral lessons to others, KCR himself must follow the law," he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the TRS Government has failed to address the problems being faced by people in rural areas during the last five years. Instead of being accountable to what it did in the last few years, KCR is trying to divert attention by calling Revenue and Panchayat Raj Departments as corrupt and inefficient. He alleged that the TRS regime has curtailed the powers of Gram Panchayats and the local body institutions were deprived of funds to take up developmental activities. He said KCR's approach was 'tender-centric' and not 'people centric'. Therefore, more emphasis was laid only on one or two huge projects while neglecting the needs of rural areas. He said that the Congress party would welcome any changes that could improve public services and bring more accountability and transparency. However, he said that the process of change must begin from the top with the Chief Minister himself coming to the Secretariat on all working days.