Vijayawada: As the Opposition parties have geared up their loins to defeat the YSRC, led by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, in the next Assembly polls, the ruling YSRC counters this by claiming Dharma would prevail and it would help them retain power.
The Telugu Desam claims that the state-wide tour of its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu for over a year and the taking up of the programmes like ‘Badude Badudu and Idhemi Karma’ helped the party reach out to the people.
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam general-secretary Nara Lokesh completed his 2,000 km Yuva Galam padayatra on Tuesday and claimed in a tweet, “This is a journey that embodies the dreams and aspirations of the youth of AP. Thank you all, all who have joined me, we will rebuild our state. Onward to the next milestone.”
Naidu congratulated Lokesh for completing the padayatra and tweeted, “Youth are our future and the TD shall realise their immense potential by providing them with better opportunities for growth. Good luck with the rest of your journey.”
Telugu Desam leaders claimed that the people are not happy with Jagan Mohan Reddy raising loans to fund welfare schemes. “This is resulting in an abnormal rise in their per capita debt. How long can he keep borrowing to run the government without focussing more on creating our own sources of income,” they ask.
They also said that the YSRC government has failed to implement several welfare schemes like Amma Vodi, Rythu Bharosa etc without remitting the promised amounts in full to the beneficiaries.
Telugu Desam national spokesman Pattabhi Ram said, “We are confident of winning the polls whether held as per schedule or early. We are fully prepared and our newly announced freebies will help us win the polls.”
Moreover, Telugu Desam is focussing more on strengthening the booth-level committees as they play a crucial role in the elections, in addition to reaching out to the people and winning their confidence. TD general-secretary and MLA from Rajamahendravaram Rural, Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary said, “We are sure of a win.”
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan started his poll campaign on June 14 in anticipation of early polls and is going in full throttle by targeting Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. He is citing several reports like the CAG’s, which grilled the state government on diversion of funds other than the purposes they were meant for. He is receiving good support wherever he takes out roadshows and addresses public meetings.
With the change of guard in state BJP, all eyes are on Daggubati Purandeswari. The BJP aims to showcase the central schemes and the huge amount of funds being pumped into AP from the Centre to fund several developmental works and welfare schemes.
The real fight will be between the ruling YSRC and the TD-Jana Sena combine, with the BJP playing a secondary role. However, backward classes welfare minister Venugopala Krishna said, “As we are strong, all the Opposition parties are joining hands to defeat us. But we are confident Dharma would prevail. The people trust us and are happy with the welfare schemes. We are having a strong vote bank mainly comprising SCs, BCs and middle income groups.”
