Hyderabad: The electoral battle for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh is heating up day by day as time rolls forward towards the polling dates, expected to be somewhere in April-May.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday sounded the poll bugle for the YSR Congress party in Vishakapatnam on Saturday, January 27, for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls saying it is a ‘Kurukshetra war’ comparing himself with the Pandavas while the opposition TDP with the Kauravas (from the epic Mahabharatha).
A video of a man intensely showering punches on a punching bag set up in front of Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan at the YSRCP meet went viral online, with many questioning the direction of the party’s poll campaign.
The caricatures and the punching bags infront of them stand in tune with the ‘war’ rhetoric put out by the YSRCP chieftain in the meeting.
Seeking votes for the YSRCP in the coming elections, the CM said his government has disbursed Rs 2.53 lakh crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) without giving any scope for corruption and as many as 2.13 lakh government jobs were given in the past 56 months of his rule.
“This a Kurukshetra war. This side Pandavas. That (opposition) side Kauravas. I am not Abhimanyu who was entangled in the Padmavyuham. I am Arjuna who was supported by you people like Lord Krishna,” he said, adding “This is a war between truth and lies. This is a war between cheating and credibility The target is 175 out of 175 Assembly seats…25 out of 25 seats is our target,” the YSRCP chief said. Andhra Pradesh has 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats.
Attacking former Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and describing him as a fascist, Jagan Mohan Reddy said the TDP supremo has no guts to fight the polls without any political alliances and no face to seek votes with his past performance.
“Ninety-nine per cent of all the promises made in the manifesto (in the 2019 Assembly polls) were fulfilled, treating it as Bible, Quran and the Bhagavad Gita…We have seen political parties dumping their manifestoes in the dustbin after the elections. But, today we have set an example otherwise,” the Chief Minister said.
Predicting that there will be polls in the next 70 days, he asked his party workers to go to every household in the state and explain the development and welfare that have taken place.
He said the YSRCP should be elected again for welfare and development to continue in the state.
Noting that his government has given housing plots to about 31 lakh eligible women, he said construction of 22 lakh houses have already begun and asked the party workers to explain to the people that a vote for the opposition party means rejecting welfare an giving scope for corruption.
“I am ready. With the support of God, your son is ready for a lonely fight (without any poll alliance). I am asking you if you are ready,” he said.
He listed out all the schemes implemented by his government to various sections including farmers and women and that the YSRCP Government implemented social justice in every post including ministers.
(With excerpts from PTI)
