The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : YSR promises `Indiramma Rajyam'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

YSR promises `Indiramma Rajyam'

By R. Sampath

VISAKHAPATNAM, APRIL 13. "It is atrocious on the part of the Telugu Desam Party chief, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, to accuse us of selling ticket to party aspirants to contest this election as it is Mr. Naidu who has perfected the art of electoral corruption and everybody in the State knows his skills in this regard. People residing in glass houses should not throw stones,'' the star campaigner of the Congress, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, told The Hindu in an exclusive interview at Bobbili during his Jaitra Yatra in the north coastal districts on Monday.

Mr. Reddy brushed aside the suggestion that the resurfacing of the Bofors scam would affect the chances of the Congress and said "We are not afraid of this so-called threat.'' Mr. Reddy also denied the suggestion that the Congress campaign was getting negative, while Mr. Naidu was emphasising on the development aspect in his electioneering. "In my speeches, I always put positive and concrete proposals like free power to the farm sector and employment opportunities for youth, besides ensuring all-round development of the State. We have to pinpoint what the TDP Government has failed to achieve in its nine-year rule. Mr. Naidu's speeches are also negative as he heaps wild allegations against us.''

When asked why he often refers to the return of the Congress as `Indiramma Rajyam' and what it entails, Mr. Reddy explained that "When Indira Gandhi was in power, she took care of the weaker and downtrodden sections of society. All her economic programmes reflected this concern of hers for the less privileged. She ensured that banks and financial institutions extended necessary support to the priority sector. When we come to power, we would like to bring back that golden era for these sections.''

Will it be possible for the Congress to honour its promise of free supply of power to the farm sector and single-bulb households, especially when the Congress Governments in other States had failed to do that, Dr Reddy said "This should not be a problem for the Government. Already, it has been extending power subsidies to the farm sector to the tune of Rs.1,000 crores. By spending another Rs.200 or 300 crores on this account, the promise can be easily fulfilled. We will find the needed extra resources by economising on wasteful expenditure. By revising the power purchase agreements entered into with private companies, some resources could be mobilised for the purpose. As for the failure of other Congress Governments, perhaps, their priorities are different. In AP, it is going to be our top priority.''

On the immediate programme in the event of the Congress coming to power, Dr Reddy said "We will complete all the minor and medium irrigation projects totally neglected by the TDP Government. We will take up youth-specific schemes for generating jobs so that the unemployed youth could be better off. We will make efforts to revive industrial units that have been closed by the TDP Government.'' On the resources for this programme, Dr Reddy said "All these closed units have idle capital in the shape of unutilised infrastructure. We will persuade financial institutions to come up with schemes for achieving the goal, apart from providing some budgetary support. `Industries' do not necessarily mean only capital goods units. We will promote agro-based industries so that the rural youth could be employed in their vicinity.''

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