The manifesto announced by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samhiti (BRS) for the 30 November assembly polls is “very practical and doable”, said party MLC K Kavitha on Monday. “The BRS government has always been practical in terms of making promises to the people, not just now, but even in 2014 when the government was formed,” she added.
“The government has shown great results in the power sector though the state had a power deficit in 2014. At that time, the government had said the transformation in the power sector could not happen in just about six months, but it could happen in two to three years. The task was accomplished and the government has been practical,” she told reporters in Hyderabad.” The party manifesto promises an incremental rise in the benefits under welfare schemes, which shows that the approach is practical, keeping in view of the state’s fiscal situation,” she said. “Both Congress and BJP were speechless as the manifesto is doable.”
Raising social security pension amounts, increasing financial assistance given under the “Rythu Bandhu” investment support scheme for farmers and providing LPG cylinders at
Rs. 400 each were some of the promises made by the ruling BRS for the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana. Releasing the party manifesto, BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said all 93 lakh families living below the poverty line (BPL) in the state would be provided life insurance cover of ₹5 lakh and that the government would bear the cost of the premium.
BRS leader Kavitha took strong exception to state Congress president A Revanth Reddy calling the BRS manifesto a “waste paper”. “If he calls the manifesto given by Rao a waste paper, then the poll guarantees given by Congress are a ‘tissue paper’ as the party does not know the fiscal situation of the state. The criticism should be issue-based,” she countered. On Revanth Reddy saying that the BRS manifesto endorsed the guarantees announced by the Congress, she said the grand old party “never worked for people sincerely in the last 60 years” and took its victory “for granted”.
“After regional parties started improving things, Congress was forced to think on a regional basis,” she claimed. The six guarantees given by Congress “are nothing but a copy” of the BRS schemes, the MLC said. “BRS is an inspiration to the BJP. The NDA government’s PM Kisan Samman Nidhi is inspired by the BRS government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme,” she said.
On the recent alleged suicide of a woman job aspirant in the state, Kavitha said she did not personally approve the personal chats of the woman being shared with the media.
However, the police is not under state control in view of the model code of conduct for polls. She requested the youths not to take such extreme steps as opportunities would come up. The state government has filled up job vacancies and also created about 30 lakh opportunities in the private sector, she said.
CONGRESS VS BRS
The BRS has the advantage of being the incumbent government. But welfarist promises would only work depending on the political mood. Additionally, before KCR announced his “enhanced welfare schemes”, the Congress’ six guarantees to farmers, women, youth, SC/ST had already reached the people.” Secondly, Telangana (or united Andhra Pradesh) has only seen one-term or two-term governments in the last 30 years—and never a three-term government.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won in 1994 and 1999; the Congress came to power in 2004 and 2009; and in 2014 and 2018, the TRS came to power. If he wins this election, KCR might be the first CM in the whole of South India to score a hattrick.
Also, after two terms, it is natural for governments to face anti-incumbency. Another aspect to look at is that senior BRS leaders—since the announcement of the Congress’ guarantees in September—has been brushing off its promises as being too “far-fetched.” However, political experts say: if the Congress’ promises are “non-implementable”, then the public would also wonder how the BRS can offer the same and more.
As for the Congress, the party’s six guarantees followed on the heels of its massive win in the Karnataka Assembly elections in May this year. The Congress also has an attractive manifesto with plenty of freebies. This was meant to counter the BRS, which is going to voters with a combination of its track record in office and the freebies it is already giving.
