YSR Congress said that the TDP government in the state had been undermining the Panchayat Raj institutions by taking away the powers of elected representations of local bodies and placing them in the hands of committees laden with TDP party cadre.

The party on Wednesday dismissed the Janmabhumi program scheduled to begin from January 2 as cheap publicity gimmick.

‘People should ask the TDP what was the outcome of the first and second phases of Janmbhoomi when the officials and committee members tour the villages for third phase,’ party MP YV Subba Reddy said on Wednesday.

“The government has reduced the elected public representatives to non-entities. By allowing Janmabhumi committees to take decisions and clear applications for welfare schemes, the government is going against the spirit of the panchayat raj and decentralization of power. Even the MLA funds earmarked for constituency development are being usurped by TDP local leaders where YSRCP has no representation,” he said.

Lakhs of applications, given in previous Janmabhumi program, were lying unattended, Subbareddy said. ” About 10 lakh applications have reportedly been received for houses.The government claims that it has cleared some 6 lakh applications. Not a single house is there to be seen around,” he said.

‘The government is more bent on publicity than on the welfare activity and the Janmabhoomi is an alibi to benefit the party cadre hoodwinking elected representatives,’ he said and asked the people to question the officials to show the results of earlier two phases of Janmabhumi,” he said.

Stating that they YSRCP had posed 100 questions on the development activities the TDP government claims to have taken up, the MP added, so far the government had not responded with satisfying replies, he added.