Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has vowed to affix his first signature upon coming to power on the file pertaining to revival of the volunteer system in the State.
Addressing a huge public gathering as part of ‘Memantha Siddham’ election campaign at Naidupeta in Tirupati district on April 4 (Thursday), he expressed anguish at the Opposition tirade on the system of delivery of social benefits to the disabled, widows and senior citizens, causing them ‘avoidable hardship’.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy attributed the reported death of 31 persons, owing to their ‘exposure to the heatwave’ while going to the village secretariat to collect the pensions and non-availability of social security pension on time, to the hue and cry raised by the opposition parties. He squarely blamed the TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu as ‘responsible’ for the deaths.
“The battle of Kurukshetra is between our government which is keen on continuance of welfare schemes for the people and the evil forces that are bent on thwarting them. Are you ready to fight the evil plaguing the State and stand in support of ‘your child’ in this fight?” he asked.
Comparing the volunteer system introduced by his government as a genuine and honest system of delivering governance, in sharp contrast to the ‘Janmabhoomi committees’ of the previous TDP government, he said the erstwhile system was marred by corruption, where people had to ‘bribe’ the committee members for getting the benefits they were eligible for.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy also accused Mr. Naidu of going back on his election-eve promises such as farm loan waiver, weavers’ society loan waiver, unemployment allowance and girl child benefits. “The other party is known for treachery and cheating. We stood by our manifesto and fulfilled most of them. Who do you want to elect?” was his question to them.
Aiming at a ‘double century’, meaning the 175 Assembly and 25 parliamentary constituencies, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy urged the voters to strengthen his hands at the hustings so as to become strong enough to fulfil the unrealised promises to the State.
“For me, my people are the SC, ST, minority and BC sisters and brothers. Also, my little ones who call me ‘Jagan Mama’ are my dearest. I will walk the extra mile to serve them,” he said, amid a thunderous round of applause from the crowd.
