TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu slams 'welfare cuts, tax burdens'

Vijayawada: TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday accused the Jagan Mohan Reddy government of punishing the people with 'welfare cuts' and 'unbearable tax burdens'. He accused the government of conspiring to cut the welfare pensions and cheat people.

He also questioned the government's move to sell lands in Amaravati while not making any efforts to construct the Capital city for the state. Addressing the party strategy committee here, the TDP chief said that the ruling YSRCP could not increase its vote share in Atmakur bypoll though it had distributed lots of money. In the last three years, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had only betrayed people in the name of welfare programmes and set arbitrary conditions only to reduce the number of beneficiaries.

He said Amma Vodi beneficiaries came down by over 52,000. In an inhuman way, the single woman pension was cut for lakhs of beneficiaries by increasing eligibility age to 50 years. New taxes were imposed on everything right from garbage.

He slammed the YSRCP government for not laying a single brick for capital city construction. How could this government put up Amaravati lands for sale at Rs 10 crore per acre when it described capital city as a 'smasanam' (cremation ground), he asked.

The former CM strongly objected to the YSRCP government not making any effort in the past three years to complete the buildings meant for the government employees in Amaravati area. It was wrong now to give these buildings to private institutions for hire.

He asked the YSRCP leaders to explain why their party could not increase its vote share in the latest byelection in Atmakur though the main opposition party was not in the contest. Was not it because of anti-incumbency, he asked.

The TDP strategy panel had discussed several other issues and blamed the YSRCP rule for the death of over 19 failed students in the Class 10 exams. Jagan Mohan Reddy's own liquor brands were taking a heavy toll on the lives of poor people. The CM did not fulfil his promise to give increased Dulhan benefit to Muslim girls from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 Lakh, it noted.