Andhra CM urges govt scheme beneficiaries to be party’s star campaigners

Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), Feb 18 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday called on beneficiaries of the government's welfare schemes to take on the role of star campaigners for the ruling party in the upcoming polls.

He was addressing a public meeting at Raptadu in Anantapur district.

The state will soon be going to the polls simultaneously for the legislative assembly as well as the Lok Sabha.

Later, he addressed a massive gathering of YSRCP supporters and party cadres in Rayalaseema district, as part of the ‘Siddham’ (ready) series of political meetings of the ruling party.

“The forthcoming elections are a battle of ideologies, not just of electing MLA and MPs. It is a battle to continue the welfare schemes against the designs of Chandrababu Naidu and his capitalistic forces; to curtail them. Are you ready for this battle?,” Reddy asked the audience at the public meeting.

For much his speech, Reddy targeted TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, and presented a comparative picture on welfare schemes.

Challenging the leader of the opposition, Reddy asked the people to recall any good scheme that came to their mind from the 14 long years in three tenures that Chandrababu Naidu had been chief minister.

He questioned if a single scheme -- or the concept of social justice -- comes to the mind of women, old people, students and other sections when Naidu’s name is mentioned.

Wondering aloud if Naidu had fulfilled even 10 per cent of the promises he made in the election manifestos of 1995, 1999 and 2014, Reddy alleged that the TDP chief "is coming again for the 2024 elections with a colourful manifesto and schemes to cheat people".

Characterising Naidu as being deceitful, Reddy accused the opposition leader of just making tall promises that are merely deceptions. He called on YSRCP cadres, leaders and activists to visit every household and drive home this message.

Furthermore, Reddy impressed upon the crowd the importance of returning the YSRCP to power in order to "continue the welfare schemes and the reforms initiated in the past five years".

According to the CM, as many as 125 times in the past five years he has distributed welfare through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) under various schemes, to disburse Rs 2.55 lakh crore in total.

Likewise, he asserted, he had created 2.13 lakh jobs during his tenure and noted that 80 per cent of the vacancies were filled by SC, ST, BC and minority communities -- among other statistics that he listed out as achievements of the YSRCP government.

Reddy exhorted his supporters to target winning all 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming elections, claiming that he had fulfilled 99 per cent of the promises he made.

Pointing out that the polls are in less than two months, he called on every volunteer and supporter to go to every home and campaign for the YSRCP. PTI