Vijayawada: YSRC president and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy made it a point to interact with handloom weavers in Mangalagiri of Guntur district on Saturday as part of his Memantha Siddham Bus Yatra programme.
“You have seen both the TD regime and YSRC government. Evaluate the two and support the party that has provided you a host of benefits,” Jagan Mohan Reddy told the weavers.
YSRC had specifically arranged the meeting between the weavers and the CM when the bus yatra reached Mangalagiri. The Chief Minister advised the weavers to take the right decision while exercising their right to vote, keeping in mind the party that would stand for their cause and safeguard their interests.
The YSRC chief remained unsparing, whether it be TD supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“They gave you a colourful manifesto in 2014 polls. But they failed to fulfil 98 per cent of the promises mentioned in their manifesto,” Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out.
In this regard, he slammed Naidu for not keeping the TD’s promise on property tax exemption, issue of ID cards, sanction of ₹1 lakh loan per head, setting up a special corpus fund of ₹1,000 crore and budget allocation of ₹1,000 crore, among others.
The CM told the weavers, “The TD chief is trying to cheat you again. Be careful not to fall into his trap. We have spent ₹3,706 crore for welfare of weavers in the last 58 months, with no corruption, discrimination or involvement of middlemen. The money has been credited directly into the back accounts of the beneficiary women.”
He explained that TD’s monthly budget had been just ₹400 crore for providing pensions to weavers at the rate of ₹1,000 per head. Whereas YSRC government has spent ₹2,000 crore, providing ₹3,000 as pension. 94,410 families have been given monthly pension at their doorstep by volunteers.
The Chief Minister said their government had entered into a tie-up with international e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart and others to expand the market potential for weavers. Weavers are already weaving bulk of the cloth for providing three pairs of uniforms to each of the 44 lakh students in the state.
He asserted that the YSRC government has allotted 50 per cent of the 200 Assembly and Lok Sabha seats to people belonging to SCs, STs, BCs and minorities. He questioned why Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh have not accommodated BCs in both Mangalagiri and Kuppam Assembly segments, where BCs voters are in majority.
Referring to the proposed distribution of house site pattas and financial support for construction of pucca houses by the YSRC government, Jagan Mohan Reddy blamed both Naidu and Lokesh for moving the Supreme Court and stalling the process.
Interestingly, the Chief Minister’s spouse Bharati could be seen standing along with crowds while Jagan Mohan Reddy’s bus passed through the Tadepalli Junction. Bharati waved her hand at her husband and Jagan reciprocated from the bus.
In a related development, as part of implementation of the poll code, Tadepalli civic staff removed publicity material that YSRC workers had put on either side of Krishna Varadhi.
