Dasari Srinvasa Rao Vijayawada

CPM state secretary V Srinivasa Rao warned the state government against turning local body elections into a farce, alleging that ruling coalition leaders had resorted to intimidation, attacks, kidnappings and destruction of nomination papers to prevent opposition candidates from contesting.

Addressing a press conference at Balotsav Bhavan here on Wednesday, along with CPM State secretariat members Y Venkateswara Rao and Central Committee Member D Ramadevi, he alleged that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was encouraging undemocratic practices. He also accused the police of supporting ruling party leaders instead of protecting candidates. Questioning the ruling coalition’s claims of unanimous victories, Srinivasa Rao asked why opposition candidates were allegedly prevented from filing nominations if the victories reflected genuine public support.

He alleged that several unanimous victories had been secured through coercion and said the practices followed by the TDP-led coalition resembled those of the previous YSRCP government.