Visakhapatnam: Senior leaders of the ruling YSRC will not find it easy to hold the door-to-door visits as a part of the intensified Gadapa Gadapaku programme in the four urban constituencies here, where TD leaders were elected as MLAs in the last general elections.
Chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had, in his recent meeting with the MLAs, coordinators and district presidents, stressed that the MLAs should spend at least five minutes at every doorstep to explain to each family the government's welfare schemes.
He also asked the leaders that they should complete the door to door programme by March.
The leaders, as per the schedule, would plant trees on Tuesday, celebrate the chief minister’s birthday the following day and launch the mass contact programme from Thursday. But, the leaders doubt whether this would be an easy task in the TD- bastion.
“The government removed 30 per cent of the poor from the pension benefits, deprived them of white ration cards etc during these three years of the YSRC rule on one pretext or the other. The enhancement of the power bill led to cancellation of many white cards in the Visakhapatnam East constituency,’’ said a senior leader of TD, Pothana Reddy.
Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu of TD represents this constituency for the third time.
Fisherman Vasupalli Trinadh said his brother purchased an old commercial vehicle through private finance. On this ground, his white card was cancelled.
Residents of Peda Waltair fishing village said half of the families did not get Rs 10,000 as 'fishing holiday allowance' that is given annually.
“Many people are approaching ward secretariats over the deletions and now they will pull up the ruling party men when they visit their homes,’’ said a local leader.
The situation is similar in Visakhapatnam constituency where TD leader PVGR Naidu (Ganababu) is MLA for the second time. “Resentment over deletion of names from welfare benefits is not confined to TD-won constituencies alone but all over. The government is giving a hike in pension by removing many beneficiaries from the list,’’ Ganababu said.
However, YSRC leaders are confident that they would be welcomed by large sections of the people due to the benefits they were getting under the YSRC rule. “All the eligible families are getting benefits. Deletion is done as per the rules,’’ said a senior YSRC leader.
