Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister seeks people’s blessings, counters TDP chief’s selfie challenge

jagan releases second tranche of YSR EBC Nestham aid

Confident of people’s blessings to the ‘‘women-friendly YSR Congress Party government”, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy dared his predecessor N. Chandrababu Naidu to pose in front of the houses of poor people and see for himself their satisfaction levels as the government implemented a host of welfare schemes benefitting each and every household.

Crediting ₹658.60 crore to over 4.39 lakh poor women under YSR EBC Nestham from Markapur in Prakasam district by the click of a button, the Chief Minister said he had given a pride of place to women and ensured direct benefit transfer (DBT) to the tune of ₹2 lakh crore under various welfare schemes, including Jagananna Ammavodi, YSR Cheyutha, and YSR Rythu Bharosa, in a transparent manner.

Challenging the Telugu Desam Party president to visit each poor man’s house and prove what his government had done to ameliorate their living condition, he quipped: ‘‘Selfie challenge is not about taking four fake pictures in front of incomplete TIDCO houses, but about standing in front of each poor man’s house and proudly declaring the good things done by him. If the poor man’s family blesses with a broad smile, then it is called a great selfie.’‘

Comparing the election manifesto to a ‘‘Bible, Koran and Bhagavad Gita’‘, he said besides fulfilling more than 98% of promises made in the election manifesto, his government provided financial assistance to economically backward women, a promise not made at the time of elections. On the other hand, Mr. Naidu had discarded the TDP’s 600-page poll manifesto after coming to power, betraying different sections of people, including farmers and Self Help Group women who were promised loan waiver, he alleged.

Mr. Jagan wanted the people to appreciate the good work done by his government in the last four years and bless it after comparing it with what the previous TDP government had done to them. He asked the people to not get carried away by the ‘‘false propaganda’‘ by the TDP and its ally as also a section of media close to it. He said the government had so far released ₹1,257.04 crore under the YSR EBC Nestham crediting ₹30,000 in two tranches. So far, 30 lakh house sites had been distributed to women across the State, and 20 lakh houses were under construction. The government had also cleared DWCRA bank loans to the tune of ₹19,178 crore out of a total of ₹25,570 crore kept pending by the TDP rule.

Mr. Jagan declared that the long-pending Veligonda project would be completed in the next five to six months. It was in the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy regime that 20 km of the 36 km giant tunnels had been drilled. The previous TDP government had not even completed the tunnel work to a length of 5 km, he recalled, adding it was he who had completed the first tunnel. The pending work on the second tunnel to a distance of 1.8 km would be completed on a war footing and the project would be dedicated farmers in September or October‘, he asserted amid loud cheer from the assembled gathering braving the scorching summer heat.