100 days in power, Jagan Mohan Reddy shows he means business

Vijayawada: With YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy reaching a milestone, parallels are being drawn between the first 100 days of his government and that of N. Chandrabbau Naidu in 2014. Mr Reddy took oath as the Chief Minister on May 30, 2019 and the first file he signed was to increase the pension amount to Rs 2,250 and increasing the honorarium of midday meal workers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000.

When Mr Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister on June 8, 2014, the first five files he signed included setting up of a committee to look into the waiver of loans of farmers, DWACRA groups and handloom weavers. His second signature was on the file to increase pensions and the third was to provide safe drinking water at Rs 2 for 20 litres, besides closing down belt shops and increasing the age of retirement to 65 years.

“Jagan fulfilled his election promise, Naidu had adopted an evasive policy by appointing a committee to look into the possibility of implementing the loan waiver scheme which was his main election promise,” points out minister Perni Venkataramaiah.

Mr Reddy also increased the honorarium of Asha workers from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 on June 3, his fourth day in office. The very next day, he announced the market stabilisation fund with an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore. This was also a part of YSRC manifesto.

On June 7, he constituted his Cabinet with five Deputy Chief Ministers, giving importance to BCs, SCs, and STs.

On entering the Secretariat, Mr Reddy signed the file pertaining to the hike of remuneration to Asha workers. His second signature on his first day in office was on the file on Amaravati-Anantapur Expressway and the third was on health insurance to journalists.

The first Cabinet meeting was held on June 9 during which key decisions were taken on Amma Vodi, abolishing of CPS, appointing regulatory body on school fees, interest-free loans to farmers, allocating 25 per cent free seats to poor students in private schools, among others.

The government imposed ban on sand mining to check irregularities and finally introduced a new sand policy on September 5. Cabinet subcommittees were constituted to probe irregularities in 30 major issues that took place during the previous government.

On July 8, Mr Reddy announced that the foundation stone will be laid for Kadapa Steel Plan on December 26 and it will be operational in three years.

The first Assembly session of the new government began on July 11 and the budget presented stood as a true reflection of the party manifesto with allocations to all welfare schemes, including Aargyasri, Amma Vodi, BC Welfare, Housing and others.

The Assembly has also passed some historic Bills, including 75 per cent reservations for locals, 50 per cent reservation for BCs, SCs, STs and minorities for nominated posts, and for contract works besides setting up of BC Commission. Legislation was also passed to set up a judicial preview of all contracts worth Rs 100 crore or above.

The Budget session of the Assembly saw 19 Bills being passed, including the Lok Ayuka Bill and on the final day of the session, the Rs 2.32 lakh-crore Appropriation Bill.

On August 1, the state government cancelled Navayuga’s contract for Polavaram work and in the following week, Mr Reddy sought Rs 23,000 crore aid from the Centre for backward districts and reiterated the Special Category Status demand.

On August 9, Mr Reddy addressed the Diplomatic Outreach Programme and showcased AP as the desired destination.

“Naidu’s first 100 days, in contrast, include decisions to develop Vijayawada, Visakhapa-tnam and Tirupati as megacities along with 15 Tier III cities into major towns. Ten days after assuming power, Naidu held a meeting with the Sivaramakrishna Committee on the capital issue. He promised free education from KG-to-PG, besides setting up a commission for Kapu Welfare. The 100 days of the previous government were full of hype and publicity, organising seminars, giving assurances, release of white papers, giving details of Vision-2029 and the like but problems on hand and the election promises made were not looked into,” said Mr Venkataramaiah.