Addressing a massive public meeting at Jaggampeta in East Godavari district, after inaugurating a lift irrigation project on Friday, Sonia took on both the BJP and the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

She said it was “sheer  hypocrisy” on the part of the BJP to criticise the Rs 60,000 crore farmer loan waiver. “My question to them (BJP) is what did they do when they were in power? As the prime minister has said the (present) suffering of the poor and the farmers is only because of the wrong policies of the previous NDA government,” she said.

Her address in English was translated into Telugu by Rajahmundry MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar. As for the TDP, she said although it was in power for nine years, it had not taken up even a single irrigation project.

Jalayagnam mission

The Pushkara Lift Irrigation project that she inaugurated on Friday morning would benefit several lakh farmers. Eulogising the Jalayagnam mission of the AP government to irrigate lakhs of acres across the state, Sonia said, “The farmers are our annadata. Whatever we are doing at the Centre and in AP is the expression of our gratitude. It is our way of repaying our debt to them,” she said.

Heaping praise on Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Sonia said that under him the state had become a role model in formulating policies and programmes for the poor. In conclusion, she said: “We have one year left for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. We have fulfilled every one of our election promises.”

On the occasion, Sonia launched the Indira Jeevita Bima (life insurance for the landless and agricultural workers). The scheme would benefit 38 lakh people.

Later, she inaugurated the pylon of the Devadula irrigation project in Warangal district. Test runs of the project in the last two weeks failed as pipes burst at several places consecutively, forcing the authorities to give up the idea of inauguration of the project by the Congress chief.