VIJAYAWADA: Congress party has given to people of Andhra Pradesh nine guarantees in case it forms its government in the state.
APCC president Y.S. Sharmila Reddy announced the nine guarantees as part of her party’s manifesto released at the party office in Vijayawada on Saturday.
The order in which the guarantees have been listed are Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh for 10 years, ₹8,500 Mahila Mahalakshmi payment per month to every poor woman, ₹2 lakh agriculture loan waiver for farmers, new minimum support price involving 50 per cent of return on investment, Employment Guarantee Scheme with minimum wage for labourers increased to ₹400, free education from KG to PG, filling up of 2.25 lakh vacancies in the state immediately after coming into power, ₹5-lakh worth pucca house to every poor homeless family in the name of women and social security pension of ₹4,000 for as many eligible people in the house and ₹6,000 pension for disabled people.
The party also promised free bus travel for women in state-owned buses like it did in Telangana and Karnataka elections.
Addressing a gathering, Sharmila Reddy underlined that every poor family in the state will benefit by around ₹1 lakh every year. She made it clear that her party will select MP and MLA candidates using a democratic process from among the 1,500 applications received for MP and MLA tickets.
“BJP is nothing but Babu-Jagan-Pawan. Chandrababu Naidu has cheated people by not getting the SCS status for the state during his tenure. YSRC made allegations against TD on SCS when in opposition. After getting power, it has done nothing on the SCS front for past five years.
“Only Congress party can sanction Special Category Status for AP,” Sharmila Reddy declared, underlining that Andhra Pradesh will not develop unless it gets the SCS status.
The APCC chief also kick-started her party's electoral campaign in AP, urging cadres to go door to door (Gadapa Gadapaku Congress Party) and expose how YSR Congress and Telugu Desam parties have deceived people.
It may be recalled that YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced Navaratnalu ahead of the 2019 elections. Now, Congress announced nine guarantees ahead of the 2024 elections.
CWC members Dr. N. Raghuveera Reddy and Gidugu Rudra Raju, AICC secretary Christopher, APCC leaders J.D. Seelam and Sunkara Padmasri, and other senior leaders attended the programme.
