Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh): A senior TDP leader has said the priority of the party is to "rebuild" Andhra Pradesh and take the state out of the debt trap by getting rid of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) National Coordinator (Election) and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedal Ravindra Kumar said Andhra Pradesh has suffered more losses during the Jagan Mohan Reddy government than during the creation of Telangana in 2014 when resources were shared between the two Telugu states.
According to the state government data, the public debt of Andhra Pradesh has increased from 31.02 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2019-20 to 33.32 per cent in 2023-24, indicating deterioration in the fiscal health of the state in the last five years.
"Under the rule of Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra CM) in the state...our main priority is to get rid of him and rebuild the state which has gone back 20 years," Kumar told PTI in an interview.
Accordingly, the TDP has returned to NDA tying up with BJP and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena party (JSP) for both assembly and Parliamentary polls to safeguard the existence and the interest of Andhra Pradesh, he said.
"The reason behind the alliance is to ensure not to divide the anti-government vote," he noted.
Claiming that the rise in corruption and anti-incumbency sentiments against the YSRCP government will favour the TDP this time, the party leader said the TDP is highlighting these issues in the campaign along with the six promises it plans to implement if voted to power.
The TDP's six polls promises are: create 20 lakh jobs for youth and provide monthly unemployment allowance of RS 3,000 till they secure a job; give Rs 15,000 a year to every school-going child, three free gas cylinders a year; Rs 20,000 annually to Annadata scheme farmers; Rs 1,500 per month to women aged 18 to 59 under Aadabidda Nidhi Scheme and free bus service to women.
Asked if the TDP was playing into the hands of BJP as the saffron party might get the support of the regional parties if either wins, Kumar said, "There is a possibility. But we are supporting BJP at the cost of the future of over 5 crore Andhra people."
"The state development is the main consideration for the party, we don't want to consider central politics at this stage. Priorities will change only when things are set right in Andhra Pradesh, not now," he said.
In the simultaneous 2024 polls to be held on May 13, TDP is contesting Lok Sabha polls from 17 seats, JSP in six and the BJP in two. In the case of the assembly poll, TDP is contesting from 144 seats, JSP in 21, and BJP in 10 seats
In the 2019 elections, the TDP exited NDA over the alleged lack of enough central funding and demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh. Kalyan withdrew support for the TDP in 2018.
Expressing concern over the rising public debt of the state government, Kumar claimed that the debt has risen multifold in the last five years due to "misrule" and "mis-administration". The state finances are in such bad shape that the government is taking loans from the RBI to release pensions to its employees.
"The loss sustained by Jagan Mohan Reddy's regime is more than the loss incurred due to the state bifurcation," he claimed.
The TDP leader said that the YSRCP has failed to fulfill several promises including special status to the state, made during the 2019 elections. The CM had promised that if YSRCP gets 25 MP seats from Andhra Pradesh then it would get a special status.
"But after coming to power, he forgot that promise...he visited Delhi not less than 31 times in the last five years. He did not make any demand from the Centre for fear of arrest and threat. He is on the ventilator of the central government," he claimed.
He further claimed that the central government's schemes have not been implemented in Andhra Pradesh because the state government has not provided a matching grant. "The central funds have been diverted in the state," he said.
The CM has also failed to create a new capital for Andhra Pradesh even after completion of ten years of sharing Hyderabad as common capital with Telangana as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, he said.
Adding to people's woes, the state government has recently come out with a new 'land title law' under which the original property document of a buyer will be vested with the state government and a revenue authority will be constituted to resolve the disputes and not civil courts, he claimed.
"This is a dangerous Act and takes away the rights of the people," he added.