Political parties in election fray are eager to see women hopping on the State Road Transport Corporation buses for free, as it has apparently emerged as a tried and tested formula to bag the women vote bank.
Following Tamil Nadu, the Congress government in Karnataka replicated the scheme and called it Shakti, which aims to empower women financially by providing them mobility free of cost. Close on the heels of Karnataka’s ‘Shakti’ came ‘Mahalakshmi’, a zero-ticket scheme launched for women by the Chief Minister of Telangana, A. Revanth Reddy.
The latest to join the proponents of ‘free-bus-ride-for-women empowerment’ crusade is the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. The proposal was first announced by party president N. Chandrababu Naidu in May, 2023, when he released a seven-point mini election manifesto ‘Bhavishyathaku Guarantee’ (guarantee to a bright future), 11 months ahead of the elections. His son and the party’s national general secretary Nara Lokesh has also been speaking about the scheme in his election meetings.
