Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), after coming to power in Andhra Pradesh, would constitute a Pay Revision Commission (PRC) for government employees and implement its recommendations. All genuine demands of government employees would be met, the TDP chief said.
Mr. Naidu, who is on a two-day visit to his home turf of Kuppam Assembly constituency, addressed a large public gathering at the NTR Statue Junction near the bus station on Monday. He appealed to the government employees to “shed their fear” of the YSR Congress Party government and come forward to defeat Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. “I will look after you (government employees) with respect and concern,” Mr. Naidu said.
He added that the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance would enhance old-age pensions in the State to ₹4,000 immediately after coming to power, and said the pensions would be disbursed by the first of every month. “The sarpanches, who were turned into lifeless tools by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, would get back their funding and their powers once we form the government,” Mr. Naidu said.
Other assurances
Asserting that the TDP had joined the NDA “as the Central government’s support is essential for the overall development and welfare of the State”, the TDP chief listed a series of welfare initiatives which he said the NDA government would implement upon coming to power.
“Kuppam would be developed into a model town. A special cluster will be created for granite sculptors on a 100-acre land in Kuppam. We will develop the airstrip here to facilitate farmers in the agriculture, horticulture and floriculture sectors to export their produce abroad,” Mr. Naidu said.
“The Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) waters will reach Kuppam region by the next agricultural season, and all village tanks will be brimming with HNSS inflows,” Mr. Naidu said. “It is deplorable that the Chief Minister tried to dupe the people of Kuppam by falsely claiming that the HNSS waters were released into the Kuppam branch canal,” Mr. Naidu said.
A separate election manifesto would be released for each Assembly constituency soon, the TDP chief said. His other assurances included an engineering college in Dravidian University, which would be made the affiliation authority for all degree colleges in Chittoor district. “An outer ring road will be built for Kuppam and the town will get a four-lane road to Bengaluru,” he added.
‘Reign of drugs’
Accusing Mr. Jagan of unleashing a reign of drugs in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Naidu alleged that the situation was so dire that ganja was available for sale even at pan shops. “When drugs from Gujarat were seized in Vijayawada earlier, I had warned that the YSRCP was behind it. After that, the YSRCP orchestrated an attack on the TDP office in Vijayawada, though it was only a few metres away from the DGP’s office,” Mr. Naidu said, adding that if allowed to continue unchecked, the indiscriminate ganja trade would end up snuffing out an entire generation’s future.
Mr. Naidu alleged that the YSRCP regime had fostered a culture of violence and rowdyism in the State, leading to the usurping of private properties and tampering of land records. “This is driving helpless people to end their lives,” he alleged, referring to a recent incident where a family of three ended their lives after their land records were allegedly tampered with.
Later, Mr. Naidu undertook a door-to-door campaign at Babu Nagar locality in Kuppam municipality. Senior party leaders from Chittoor and Tirupati district accompanied the TDP chief.
