Three years of 'welfare-centric' Jagan's rule: TDP's Naidu accuses CM of amassing Rs 1.75 lakh cr wealth

YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy, who stormed to power with 151 MLAs, completed three years in the Andhra Pradesh chief minister seat on Monday.

Marking the event, Reddy's government claimed that it has “so far disbursed about Rs 1.85 lakh crores under Direct Benefits Transfers and also non DBT schemes like Dr YSR Aarogyasri (health insurance scheme), Jagananna Gorumuddha (school mid-day meals).”

The DBTs are under various heads from YSR social security pensions for the old, disabled etc, Amma-vodi (a financial incentive scheme for poor women sending their children to schools) to YSR Cheyutha, an entrepreneurial program for SC, ST, BC, and minority women.

An unimpressed former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that Reddy has “amassed Rs 1.75 lakh crore illegal income” during the same period.

“While Jagan family's treasure chest is brimming, Andhra Pradesh people are saddled with Rs 8 lakh crore debt. How could the state repay all this debt?” Naidu questioned during his party TDP's plenary “Mahanadu” at Ongole.

Naidu accused Jagan of pressuring all the government systems and “even looting natural resources like laterite from the agency areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.”

“Domestic electricity bills have doubled in May compared to April. Prices of tomato and chicken have skyrocketed to Rs 120 and Rs 320 a kilo respectively. Sand rate went up from Rs 600 per tractor during the TDP rule to Rs 6,000 now under YSRCP. If this continues, AP could soon follow in the footsteps of Sri Lanka," Naidu said.

Accusing that people were also vexed by the atrocities of the ruling side, the opposition leader stated that “Jagan would go home if the midterm elections were held now.”

"Welfare oriented administration"

Reddy's YSRCP gained power in the 2019 polls, winning 151 out of the 175 seats in the AP assembly. Since then, the ruling party continued its victory streak in every election – assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls, urban and rural local bodies.

“Our government's biggest, most effective and inclusive growth mechanism is the DBT system which eliminates the middlemen, corruption and nepotism. Money is reaching the intended beneficiaries in full and on the dot. We have so far disbursed about Rs 1.85 lakh crore under DBT and also non DBT schemes since Reddy took over the reins,” a CMO official said.

Party functionaries said that Jagan's welfare centered administration is an outcome of the various issues raised by the people he met during his 3,648 km foot march across Andhra Pradesh before the 2019 elections.

“And despite the pandemic impact, the CM kept the wheels of economy rolling without neglecting welfare activities. During the three years in office, he has fulfilled 95 per cent of poll promises,” the official added.