CPI State secretary Muppalla Nageswara Rao speaking at the of the party’s district conference in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU

CPI State secretary Muppalla Nageswara Rao has accused the BJP of resorting to all kinds of practices to come to power. It mainly uses religion as a political weapon to gain power, he alleges.

Mr. Nageswara Rao was in the city to participate as chief guest in the Visakhapatnam district’s 25th ‘Maha Sabhalu’ on Sunday.

He said the BJP was coming to power by driving a wedge between the regional parties, besides using religion as a political weapon. The same ploy would not work every time as people might not vote on the basis of religion every time, he said.

The BJP had come to power in 2014 due to corruption and scams of the Congress government. It had come to power in the subsequent elections saying it would double the income of farmers, provide two crore jobs annually, bring back black money stacked in foreign banks and deposit ₹15 lakh in people’s accounts. “But, as on date, not a single promise has been implemented,” he alleged.

“After coming to power for the second time, the BJP has focussed on privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant,” he said.

The BJP thought of coming to power for the third time by winning 420 Lok Sabha seats, but could not get the seats required to form the government on its own, Mr. Nageswara Rao said.

He said the Left parties had supported the UPA-1 government from outside and made every effort to run the government properly, as a result of which the government gained a good reputation. He said in UPA-2, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not consider the Left parties’ views, and supported the nuclear deal with the United States. This deal was against the interests of the country. In this context, the Left parties moved a no-confidence motion against the UPA-2 dispensation, which as . He said that the no-confidence motion was lost due to Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, he recalled.

“The efforts made by the Left parties for a third alternative against the BJP and Congress have not been fruitful,” he said.

Senior CPI leader Palleti Polaiah hoisted the party flag. It was attended by, among others, party district secretary M. Paidiraju and 162 delegates from across the district.