Reiterating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) resolve to fight against the political parties that are being run by families, its national president J.P. Nadda has described Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as dynastic political parties, which are ‘inefficient and mired in corruption’.
Mr. Nadda, who arrived in Andhra Pradesh on a two-day visit on Monday, observed that the Indian National Congress (INC) was ‘no longer Indian nor national as its leaders were speaking from London. “The Congress has become a fiefdom of sister and brother (Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
He said the BJP would take on the family–based political parties with all its might.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed the political culture in the last eight years. A slew of welfare schemes implemented by the Central government have improved the quality of live of the people. Development has acquired a new dimension under his (Mr. Modi’s) leadership,” Mr. Nadda observed.
Poverty reduction
Participating as the chief guest at a meeting of the chiefs of ‘Shakti Kendras’ here on Monday, Mr. Nadda pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest forecast, had pegged the Indian economy’s growth rate at 8.7%. “There has been a substantial reduction in poverty, with the number of families in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category coming down from 22% to 10%. People should therefore exercise their choice between the BJP and other parties wisely,” he said.
Referring to the schemes being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Nadda said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had converted the Ayushman Bharat, a Central scheme, into the YSR Aarogyasri as part of which payments would not be made, if patients get themselves treated for any disease in hospitals outside the State.
“On the contrary, Ayushman Bharat is a pan-India scheme. The YSRCP government is projecting many welfare schemes, which are being implemented with the support of the Central government, as its own,” said Mr. Nadda.
Poll mantra
He exhorted the chiefs of ‘Shakti Kendras’ to get in touch with the voters in at least five booths and explain what the BJP-led Central government had done for Andhra Pradesh since the State bifurcation. He also launched booklets brought out for the purpose.
He suggested that the booth-level party activists should visit each household and motivate people to join the BJP, Mr. Nadda said, adding that the collective endeavour should be made to secure a decisive mandate in the 2024 general elections.
