Polls for panchayats in June; civic bodies in Aug

The Congress party blew the poll bugle on Wednesday from Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy stadium when it announced the poll schedule for panchayat, mandal and municipal elections.A While the Panchayat Raj minister K Jana Reddy said that the sarpanch elections would be held towards last week of June, the Minister for Municipal Administration M Maheedhar Reddy announced that government had decided to hold municipal elections sometime during third week of August and mandal elections either at the end of August or first week of September.

Making an effort to catapult the rank and file into poll mood, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy called upon the grass root level workers and leaders to take up massive campaign to explain the welfare schemes launched by the government and how the Congress party was concerned about the welfare of the poor and downtrodden sections of the society.

He called upon the district, mandal and block level presidents of the party not to worry about the high voltage propaganda by rivals claiming that the Congress party was getting weakened and would lose in the elections. He asked them not to give any credence to the various survey reports by media channels. "They talk to about 200 or 300 people and come to the conclusion that Congress was on its way out. You need not believe them," he said.

Calling upon the Congress workers to go from door to door and explain to the people about the new schemes like Amma Hastam, Bangaru Talli, SC and ST Sub- Plans and how it had improved all the schemes launched during the period of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. No force can stop the party from winning the elections. The strength of the party was proved during the cooperative elections and we need to perform much better this time, he said.

While appealing to the party rank and file not to wash their dirty linen in public, the CM reeled out the details of various measures taken by the government in last three years to put the economy and law and order situation back on track and how it had now moved forward to help the common man.

He wanted the people to be explained that Amma Hastam benefits 75 lakh people. The government had improvised the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme introduced during Rajasekhara Reddy's regime and was now giving rice for just Re 1 a kg which benefits about 2.25 lakh families. He promised to give another 12 lakh ration cards in the next Rachabanda programme. The government had waived loans of farmers who had borrowed less than Rs one lakh and now this scheme is being emulated by Congress government in Karnataka.

"Women who constitute 50 percent of the population have been well recognized. Interest free loans are being given to women self help groups. The government pays 13 percent interest towards the loans taken by SHGs. Not just that, it is also reimbursing fees for 28 lakh students in the state" Kiran Kumar Reddy explained.

Referring to Arogyasri scheme, Chief Minister said contrary to the criticism by many parties, particularly YSRCP, 14 lakh surgeries were performed during last three years as against 19 lakh surgeries in five years of the previous regime. The budget allocation for this programme has been increased from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore now.

Kiran told the workers to question the people if all this was "doing away with the Congress party schemes" introduced during YSRs time, as is being alleged by the YSRCP. In Congress party all schemes are of the party and not of any individual, he said. Lashing at YSRCP, he said the party needs to change its flag now. It has all the schemes launched during YSRs period and alleges that we have stopped implementing them. "I ask the people present here to tell me if we had stopped the programmes or revised them to give greater benefit to the people."

As the Congress workers raised their hands in appreciation of the work being done by the government, Kiran said, "YSRCP leaders should hang their head in shame for spreading falsehood. Imagine what would happen if a man who had amassed so much wealth when not in power comes to power. Don't be silent spectators, take on the opponents head on," he thundered.

Meanwhile, AICC secretary and state observer Krishnamurthy announced that the state party has been asked to fill all nominated posts. It has also been asked to reconstitute the PCC, he said.

V Ramu Sarma