Vijayawada: The ruling Telugu Desam has started the election campaign in an attractive manner to the masses claiming that 83 per cent of people of AP state were benefiting with TD welfare schemes.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had directed TD cadres to publicise all 130 welfare schemes of the TD among the masses to get votes.
The spin being given is that AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had increased social security pension from 200 to 2000, that is 10 times!
Actually, what has taken place is that during the 2014 election campaign there was a promise that the social security pension would be made Rs 1,000 per month from the then amount of Rs 200 per month. And when Mr Naidu came into power, the pension was made Rs 1000 in June 2014. And that’s what it has been till the promise last week promising that it would be enhanced to Rs 2,000 per month.
Interestingly, YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised to increase the pension amount to Rs 2,000 from the present Rs 1,000 after coming to power. And hence Mr Naidu announced doubling of the pension to Rs 2,000 and implementing from February 2018 to distract the public from YSRC.
Mr Naidu has directed TD cadres including ministers to emphasise that pension had gone up ten times, and that was indication of how pro-people the TD was.
TD leaders are also planning to make good use of the programme to campaign for social security pensions, agriculture loan waiver to 59 lakh farmers, Christmas, Ramzan and Sankranti Kanukas and other schemes.
A majority of TD leaders including ministers D. Umamaheswara Rao, P. Pulla Rao, N. Ananda Babu, G. Srinivasa Rao, P Narayana, K.S. Jawahar and others have already started campaigning about social security pensions in every meeting. For the past few days, Mr Umamaheswara Rao has been meeting people on the roads to emphasise that increase in the pension amount.
According to reports, there were 54 lakh beneficiaries of social security pensions in 13 districts of AP and TD leaders were targeting them to get votes in the forthcoming elections.
Minister Umamaheswara Rao claimed that a majority of people were positive towards the TD government and were praising its welfare schemes and predicted a huge victory.
