The annual Mahanadu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) began at Manduvaripalem villlage, near here, on Friday with a call by its national president N. Chandrababu Naidu to “get rid of the anti-people Jagan Mohan Reddy government as and when elections are conducted.”
Paying floral tributes to party founder N.T. Rama Rao to mark his year-long birth centenary celebrations, Mr. Naidu set the tone for a brain-storming delegates’ session of the political conclave by giving the party cadre the slogan, “Quit Jagan, save Andhra Pradesh.”
Mid-term polls
Preparing the party cadre for an “imminent mid-term election” in the State, Mr. Naidu underscored the “historic necessity” for the TDP to return to power to save the “debt-ridden State” as its borrowings had touched an “unsustainable ₹8,00,000 crore.”
Launching a blistering attack on the YSRCP government for its “misrule and letting loose repression in the State in the last three years by misusing the police,” Mr. Naidu made it clear that the TDP’s fight was not against any individual, but against the “inept government,” which had made the lives of the common people miserable with what he called ‘Badude Badudu’.
Heavy dose of taxes had contributed to skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities, including fuel, at a time when the Centre and the neighbouring States slashed taxes on petrol and diesel, he said.
“It is time for the police personnel right from the top to the bottom to introspect over the fate of a few erring officers jailed for blindly following the dictates of the ruling dispensation. Erring officers will not spared when the TDP returns to power,” he asserted, adding the TDP cadre would not be cowed down by “false cases” registered while fighting for the people’s cause.
As the YSRCP regime turned out to be a “curse on the people,” the responsibility of providing relief was now on the TDP, Mr. Naidu said during the inaugural session of the Mahanadu held in the physical mode after two years as the COVID-19 cases subsided.
‘‘The Chief Minister’s post is nothing new to me. With the people’s blessings, I had a long innings at the helm, both in the unified Andhra Pradesh and post its bifurcation,” he said.
People’s welfare had become a casualty with the budgetary allocation for the welfare schemes dipping to 41% under the YSRCP rule against 54% during the TDP term, he said.
“Whatever little benefit that is accrued by the Ammavodi scheme is being snatched away by ‘Nanna Buddi’ (sale of liquor to menfolk) as the YSRCP ignored total prohibition and other major poll promises. What has happened to the poll promise of getting Special Category Status (SCS) to the State from the Centre,” Mr. questioned.
Appeal to farmers
“No section, including farmers, is satisfied with the performance of the YSRCP government,” Mr. Naidu said, and appealed to the farmers to join the TDP in its fight against the “anti-farmer” policies of the government instead of killing themselves in the wake of ever-increasing cost of farm inputs and unremunerative price for farm produce.
Promising to make farming profitable as and when the TDP assumed office, Mr. Naidu said metering of farm pumpsets would have to be stopped at any cost as it would pave the way for scrapping the free power scheme over a period.
Konaseema violence
Describing the Konaseema violence over renaming the Amalapuram-headquartered district after B.R. Ambedkar as one perpetrated by the ruling party to divert the people's attention from the Kakinada dalit murder case in which a YSRCP MLC was involved, Mr. Naidu asked what prevented the State government from completing the construction of the statue of the architect of the Constitution in Amaravati, where the self-financing world-class capital model remained in shambles.
The delegates’ session adopted 17 resolutions, which included three relating to Telangana and one pertaining to Andaman and Nicobar, where the TDP shared power with the BJP in the Port Blair Municipal Corporation.
The Mahanadu condemned the “political vendetta unleashed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government.”
It also decried the “rise in sexual assaults” on women; ganja and drugs menace in the State; flight of industries from the State and growing unemployment; inordinate delay over completion of the Polavaram project; truncated welfare schemes; misappropriation of natural resources.
