Puducherry: Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Friday, April 3, campaigned in Puducherry ahead of the assembly elections in the Union Territory (UT), urging voters to elect the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance candidates by a “massive majority” to protect democracy and the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Bhatti, accompanied by Telangana Minister Ponnam Prabhakar and Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president Vidyalingam, canvassed in the Manaveli and M Balam Assembly constituencies in support of Congress candidates Anantharaman and Lakshmikanthan, respectively.
Addressing gatherings in both constituencies, the Deputy CM assured voters that the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), comprising the Congress and the DMK, remained committed to fulfilling its election promise. He asked them to disregard the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) “false claims” about the SPA’s track record on guarantees.
Pointing to Telangana as evidence that poll promises can be delivered, Bhatti said the Congress government in the state had begun implementing its guarantees from its very first Cabinet meeting after coming to power.
He listed a series of welfare measures his government had carried out, such as a waiver of Rs 21,000 crore in farm loans benefiting 25 lakh farmer families, an annual outlay of Rs 18,000 crore under the Rythu Bharosa scheme, disbursing Rs 12,000 per acre per year to cultivating farmers and the filling of 67,173 government posts, with appointment letters handed to selected candidates in public ceremonies.
He said the Mahalakshmi scheme, which provides free bus travel to women, was saving them between Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,000 a month, and that the Road Transport Corporation (RTC), which runs 10,000 buses with 50,000 staff, had been turned around from losses to profit.
Other measures he cited included 200 units of free electricity, the sanctioning of 4.5 lakh Indiramma houses at Rs 5 lakh each and LPG cylinders at Rs 500.
Bhatti said Telangana’s growth rate stood at 10.8 per cent and that his government had demonstrated that development was possible without raising taxes. He added that the state aimed to become a USD 1 trillion economy by 2034 and a USD 3 trillion economy by 2047, in line with the Telangana Rising Vision Document-2047.
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