The elections to the state assemblies of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have become an eye-opener for the leaders of the political parties.
They have realised that if they are inaccessible to the people and take them for granted, they would have to bite the dust in the elections.
For example, Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao had never been available to the people when he was the chief minister of Telangana.
Except when he wanted to address public meetings, people never had an opportunity to see him.
He was not accessible even to his party MLAs and he virtually ruled the state from his Pragati Bhavan and Erravelli farmhouse.
He never went to Secretariat and his Pragati Bhavan was unapproachable to the people, as he considered it as his fort.
What happened? The people taught KCR a fitting lesson in the last elections by defeating the BRS. The Congress, which came to power, has thrown open the Pragati Bhavan to the people to come there and represent their grievances.
In Andhra Pradesh, too, YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had always been among the people before coming to power in 2019. But after he became the chief minister, he completely shut the doors for the people.
Most of the times, Jagan confined himself to Tadepalli pressing the buttons to release money into the accounts of beneficiaries and at the most addressing public meetings. He had lost touch with the people, as a result of which, he lost the elections.
Now, all the leaders have realised how important it is for them to be in touch with the people and attend to their grievances.
For the first time, Jagan, too, has decided to hold a “praja darbar” at his Tadepalli office, where he would meet the people regularly and take petitions from them on public issues.
Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, too, has been meeting people regularly at TDP central office at Mangalagiri and attending to their problems.
His son, Nara Lokesh has been regularly holding Praja Darbar at Mangalagiri to receive representations from the people and resolve them immediately.
Now, deputy chief minister and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, too, has decided to be available at the party office regularly to meet the people. Already, he has been interacting with the people regularly at the secretariat.
Starting Thursday, he directed his party MLAs and other leaders to be available to the people at the Jana Sena Party state office at Mangalagiri. He opened a grievance wing in the party, where the people can come and represent their problems to the party.
He assigned the duties to the MLAs and leaders in turns, so that they can come to the party office on the specified dates and interact with the people.
So, the parties can no more take the people for granted!
