Joining the chorus for a caste-based census, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said that for an effective poverty alleviation strategy, it is essential to have statistics that reflect the correct economic situation of all communities.
“There are poor people who haven’t benefitted from government policies in each section, whether Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and even the forward caste groups. We need a comprehensive caste census and we must have a strategy based on the report on how to target these groups in particular,” Mr. Naidu said during a media interaction in Delhi.
The demand for caste-based census is likely to occupy the centre-stage in the Opposition’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is the only point of convergence between the TDP and the Opposition. The TDP continues to distance itself from its 2019 stance, when Mr. Naidu had tried to bring the Opposition together.
For now, he is concentrating on the contest with YSR Congress. Mr. Naidu said that the TDP will go into the Assembly elections with the call to ‘Save Andhra’.
“Andhra Pradesh is going through an unprecedented situation. The taxation is at an all-time high, the State finances are in a precarious state, and cases are lodged against anyone who raises a question against the government. This is the first time in the 45 years that I have been in politics that so many cases have been filed against me. I will have to file an RTI (Right to Information query) myself for compiling the number of cases filed against me, for the election affidavit,” he said.
In the previous Assembly elections held in April 2019, the TDP could win only 23 seats against its political rival YSR Congress’ 151-seat tally. The difference of vote share between the two sides was nearly 10%.
Mr. Naidu reached Delhi on Monday to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, urging the Election Commission to ensure that no eligible voter was left out of the electoral roll in Andhra Pradesh.
Assembly elections are at least eight months away, but the TDP is already working on its election promises. Mr. Naidu listed out six commitments that he intends to announce during the campaign — ₹1,500 per month for women, ₹3,000 unemployment allowance for youth, three free gas cylinders per annum, 20 lakh new jobs, ₹50,000 per annum as allowance for students, and free bus rides for women.
The TDP has been highly critical of the YSR Congress government for propagating the “freebie culture”. “There is a key difference between our promises and the schemes of the current administration. The YSR Congress government does not believe in wealth creation. If you do not create wealth, you will not have the revenue to fund the welfare measures,” Mr. Naidu said.
He stressed on the need to replace the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with People Public Private Partnership (4P). “We haven’t used our demographic dividend. People are crucial wealth that we should utilise if we aim to have a sustainable model of growth,” Mr. Naidu said.
