Around 100 volunteers who were previously associated with the YSRC government’s volunteer system have tendered their resignations and joined the Opposition Telugu Desam (TD). This mass induction took place in the presence of former minister and TD candidate for the Nellore city Assembly constituency, Dr P. Narayana, in Nellore on Friday.
Narayana formally welcomed the volunteers into the TD fold by draping them with the party’s shawls. However, during the group photograph session after joining, many volunteers attempted to conceal their identities by covering their faces with veils, seemingly to avoid the anger of the ruling YSRC. Narayana, however, assured them that the TD would safeguard their interests.
Addressing the media, Narayana highlighted that the joining of volunteers into the TD comes at a time when the YSRC claimed that the Opposition was against the continuation of the volunteer system. He cited these joinings as an example of the changing trends in the state, alleging that the volunteers themselves understood that the YSRC had belittled them by paying meagre honorariums.
Narayana promised that the TD would pay volunteers a monthly honorarium of `10,000 after coming to power. “The entry of these volunteers into our party, attracted by the promise of a `10,000 monthly salary made in our manifesto, is a resounding vote of confidence in the leadership of our party chief, Nara Chandrababu Naidu,” Narayana claimed. He promised that a TD government would upskill the volunteers based on their qualifications.
