Coverage in TV9 on my fundraising event in New Jersey

I thank TV9 for covering my fund raiser event in New Jersey, U.S. People For Lok Satta New Jersey chapter took the initiative in organizing the event. Key members of PFL from Boston chapter also came especially for the event. I thank them and the media for the support.

Coverage in TV6 for my Bay Area fundraiser organized by PFL

I thank TV6 for covering my fund raiser event in the Bay Area. People For Lok Satta Bay Area chapter took the initiative in organizing the event. I thank them and the media for the support.

Panel discussion in TV5

TV5 invited me to a panel discussion on current affairs in Andhra Pradesh. I thank Prakash Kapila garu for ensuring the smooth functioning of the eventualities.

 

Why Andhra Pradesh/Telangana Assembly elections should happen along with Parliamentary Elections 2014

There has been a lot of speculation over last the few weeks that the Assembly elections in the state of Andhra Pradesh might get postponed and it will not be taking place along with the General Elections 2014. The Assembly elections in the state were due along with the Parliamentary elections in April-May as the term of the Assembly comes to an end at the same time. Thankfully, the Election Commission has recently clarified that the Assembly elections would be taking place along with Parliamentary elections but we still need to wait for an official notification.

Assembly elections should not be postponed for two main reasons:
1) It would deprive the citizens of the State of an elected Government for more than few months
2) Additional cost to the exchequer for conducting another election
3) Avoidable inconvenience to the people

However, what is shocking is the manner in which everyone went about this issue. Several political party representatives from different regions started lobbying for postponement as it was in their self-interest. No party came forward openly to support the conducting of the elections (irrespective of when Telangana state might be created) on time.

I hope the Election Commission will continue to strictly go by the rules and expected norms.

Priorities for Telugus now: Build a new thriving city near to the coast and strive to make Hyderabad as second capital of India

Now that Telangana issue is resolved to an extent, it is now time to look towards the future.

1) We need to build a thriving new city near to the coast in residual Andhra Pradesh that houses the new State Government offices and also new commercial, educational and research establishments. In South India, this new city should be able to rival the existing clusters of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad metropolitan areas. The size of the local economy will surely support the emergence of such a city. This needs great leadership and entrepreneurial instinct among the local people i.e. the people of residual state of Andhra Pradesh.

2) Hyderabad metropolitan area is ideally suited in terms of geography to house the second capital of India. What it means is some of the central government departments working from New Delhi can be shifted to Hyderabad. This will ensure that a part of the Central Government administrative offices will also work from Hyderabad. This will ensure that people of South India, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh will find easy proximity to those governance departments instead of traveling all the way to New Delhi. After few decades, we can have a third capital in Kolkata, based on the same logic. This idea should be debated further before we put this into action. Visionary leadership is needed to go further on this idea.

Kejriwal should not have resigned from the CM post of Delhi

I always supported Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party team to form the Government in Delhi with Congress support and I felt very happy when he eventually decided to accept external support to form the Government.

Life is a lot about compromising on our expectations, wishes and urges. We should not compromise on our stated ethics. But we should prepared to be flexible with what we want to do and achieve, both in professional, public and personal lives. After all, things do not turn out the exactly the way we expect them to.

In this outset, moving forward with getting things done, as much as feasible, is the most sensible approach. AAP had a historic victory in Delhi in the Assembly elections and it was a matter of joy to all well-intentioned Indians hoping for a shake-up of the current mess in the political setup. It was a hard fought battle and every one we're looking forward towards better governance. But AAP has frittered away the chance to make good the bad ways in Delhi.

A lot can be achieved with the existing rules and laws. He had a full five years. I agree that AAP considers Jan Lokpal Bill as very important. But, AAP should have chosen to again fight that battle another day. But at present, AAP should have focused to deliver good anti-corrupt governance in Delhi, within its constraints. Kejriwal should not have put in his papers.

I wish him good luck in his fight to shake up the current mess in politics. But his party could have done a lot more than that with him as the CM of Delhi.

Why Lok Satta Party should not merge with Aam Aadmi Party as of now

There has been a series of discussions between Lok Satta Party and Aam Aadmi Party for the past few months regarding the terms of working together. Today, Jayaprakash Narayan and some of our party leaders went to New Delhi to again speak with Arvind Kejriwal and his party leaders about this. I can say that the talks have been inconclusive so far and engagement will continue further. There are two options for LSP and AAP if they have to work together: 1) Creatively draw out a plan of engagement that can even be a pre-poll alliance or strategically not fighting against each other or help each other in other ways 2) Merge LSP and AAP

As of now, AAP is publicly stating that they favor merger. LSP is not in favor of merger as of now.

Why I am against Lok Satta Party merging with Aam Aadmi Party as of now:
1) There are early days for AAP and the rate of tripping over (losing trust of people by committing grave execution mistakes unintentionally, etc.) is still high. It is always good to have more than one party on "clean politics platform" so that if one party loses the trust of the people, the other party can carry forward the agenda of clean politics. Please note that safeguarding the "clean politics platform" is very important.

2) AAP has not formulated policies for many issues, as it is still very young. LSP has developed many solid policies over the years. So, many know what LSP stands for but no one knows what AAP stands for on many issues. Let AAP take a stand on various issues in coming months so that LSP can engage with AAP on those issues.

3) There are many economic, national security and national identity issues where LSP and AAP do not agree with. For example, LSP supports FDI in retail while AAP opposes it. LSP wants to see how this position of AAP on such issues will evolve. However, these issues are not deal-breakers though important.

LSP and AAP have lot of things to learn from each other. Let us work together without hurting each other. Let us together strengthen the "clean politics platform". We can consider the issue of merger at a later date, definitely not before 2014 General Elections.