YSRC to focus on women voters, key for 2024 battle

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy aims to increase the YSR Congress vote bank in the Big Battle 2024 by consolidating the party’s 50 per cent vote share of 2019 through mass contact programmes. He would also concentrate more on women who are a deciding factor and numerically dominant in about 100  out of the 175 assembly constituencies.

The YSRC led by Jagan got 1,56,88,569 votes and the party’s archrival, Telugu Desam, won 1,23,04,668 votes in the 2019 elections. The ruling party would now seek to increase the party’s voting percentage by wooing the support of women. Women, it is pointed out, are majorly the beneficiaries of the Navaratnalu welfare schemes.

The flagship Navaratnalu helped Jagan to win the 2019 elections with 151 seats out of 175, catapulting the YSRC to power and making Jagan Reddy the chief minister. Jagan Reddy kept up his promise and implemented all the welfare schemes without fail, even during the Covid crisis and the resultant financial difficulties.

The disbursement of welfare schemes during the Corona times helped the people from the lower rungs of the society to overcome the difficult times and the YSRC government won wholesome praise for this.

The Navaratnalu are a set of nine welfare schemes – the Rythu Bharosa, Ammavodi, Arogyasri, Jala Kala, Arogyasri, Vidya Deevena, Pedalandariki Illu, Pension Kanuka and Aasra/Cheyutha. Women are the majority beneficiaries of Navaratnalu. The Chief Minister claimed that he has already implemented  98 per cent of his poll promises. He has also stressed that his government was implementing welfare schemes to cover all eligible people without discriminations of caste, creed and religion, and without any scope for corruption.

The Amma Vodi was the main flagship welfare scheme under which 44.48 lakh women were benefitted. This was followed by the Pedalandariki Illu housing programme under which houses were allotted to nearly 28 lakh women. Nearly 50 lakh women benefited from the other welfare schemes, the government claims.

The MLAs and other YSRC leaders, who are visiting the houses in every village and town as part of the Jagananne Maa Bhavishyatthu (JMB) interaction campaign programme, are explaining to the people the benefits the government has extended to every house under the Navaratnalu.

The legislators are also collecting the opinions of the masses, mainly women about the implementation of these schemes. According to reports, a majority of the women are expressing satisfaction and seeking more welfare schemes for them.

The YSRC cadres, who were on the road for the past two days under JMB, are trying to get the support of women for the party through a set of initiatives. They are posing five questions and seeking women’s opinion on the welfare schemes, the state’s governance and their wishes for the next election.

Some 21 lakh households participated in the mass interaction programme and 15 lakh missed calls were received by the YSRC on Saturday and Sunday regarding the welfare schemes and Jagan government’s administration, almost entirely in a positive manner.

Political analysts recalled that Chandrababu Naidu also implemented a plethora of welfare schemes well before the election and tried to attract women through the Pasupu Kumkuma welfare scheme. They note that Chandababu Naidu had, on the other hand, stopped all other financial activities and paid Pasupu Kumkuma sops. But it failed to help him regain power as, it appeared, the women distrusted him.

The analysts say there is no guarantee about welfare schemes helping Jagan Reddy win the next elections. The CM knows as much and hence he started the public interaction through the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam two years before the elections and the JMB a year before the polls. “These would remind the public about the good work done by the YSRC government to consolidate the vote bank,” some analysts feel.

Analysts note that at least a two to five per cent increase in the voting percentage will change the fate of political parties. Hence, Jagan aimed to hike the YSRC voting percentage of 50 per cent to a higher level with the help of his mass interaction campaigns.

AP state Planning Board vice chairman and MLA Malladi Vishnu said that the country and the state would develop only when women are economically developed.