For quite some time, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been warning the people against voting for the Telugu Desam Party in the next elections since all the welfare schemes being implemented at present would be done away with if the TDP comes to power.
Apparently realising that this sustained campaign would cause huge damage to the TDP, the party leadership has decided to launch a counter-campaign saying that none of the welfare schemes would be scrapped, if the TDP is voted to power.
On Monday, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh issued a statement that all the welfare schemes would continue even after the TDP comes to power in the next elections.
“We don’t have the vengeance attitude. We shall continue the welfare schemes without any change,” he said.
Lokesh reminded that welfare schemes like Arogya Sri, introduced by the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government in the past, were continued in the TDP regime headed by then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
“But when Jagan came to power in 2019, he scrapped all the welfare schemes introduced by Naidu out of sheer vengeance. We don’t have such an attitude. We shall continue all the welfare schemes with more vigour,” he said.
The TDP general secretary also announced that his party, if voted to power, would also continue the village and ward secretaries appointed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
“We shall not sack them, just because they were recruited by the present regime,” he said.