Andhra Pradesh: House Wrangle over Super Six Implementation

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has claimed credit for successful implementation of the Super Six programme while the opposition YSR Congress called it a super flop. These views were expressed by members from rival sides during a short discussion on Super Six in the legislative council here on Friday.

Council chairman Koyye Moshenu Raju allowed continuation of the discussion on the subject for the second consecutive day.

Agriculture minister K Atchannaidu said the Telugu Desam led government implemented its poll promises despite the state facing a severe financial crunch. The previous government raised debts of `9.50 lakh crore and left bills worth hundreds of crores unpaid when it ended its five year stint, he said.

He said, “The Super Six is a super-duper hit. With 22 MPs from the state and AP government extending support to the BJP led NDA government in Delhi, we are able to get its support in generous measure. This helped us to implement the Super Six programmes.”

Civil supplies minister Nadendla Manohar explained in detail how the Deepam 2.0 scheme was benefiting people, especially the women. “We are providing them three domestic gas refills free of cost per annum,” he said, adding, “So far, we have given 2.65 lakh gas refills to benefit 1.04 crore families at an estimated cost of Rs 1,719 crore.”

Transport minister Mandipalli Ramprasad said that under the Stree Shakti scheme, the number of women availing free travel in RTC buses has gone up to 62 per cent from the earlier 40 per cent of the passengers. The occupancy ratio in RTC buses has gone up to 90 per cent from 69 per cent. Nearly 22 lakh women availed the free bus facility so far, he said.

However, the Opposition YSR Congress members raised a hue and cry, alleging that the government failed to fully implement the Super Six as was promised at the time of the 2024 polls.

YSRC’s Varudu Kalyani claimed that Super Six scheme was a super flop and several promises remained unfulfilled -- like the unemployment stipend, the Thalliki Vandanam, supply of domestic gas refills free of cost, generation of jobs for youth and financial relief to the farmers. There was only a partial implementation of the several promised schemes, he said.

Another YSRC member P Vikranth called the Super Six an utter flop and criticised the P-4 initiative where the rich were supposed to help the poor. These, he said, were just a show. The council witnessed uproarious scenes on the claims vis-a-vis implementation of welfare schemes, for some time.

Opposition leader Botsa Satyanarayana urged the government to provide pension to the women whose husbands died abruptly.