TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday promised to provide reservation in education and jobs for the Kapu community if he came to power in the general elections.
Addressing a massive Praja Garjana rally here, he said he would appoint a commission to work out modalities for implementing his promise. He delivered this election promise in an obvious bid to woo the Kapu community, which holds the key to determining the winning chances of a party in the twin Godavari districts by virtue of its numerical strength.
The TDP chief sent the right signal across to the Kapus at the rally by admitting their leader and former Minister Bandaru Satyananda Rao from East Godavari district.
Incidentally, Mr. Rao defected to the Congress from the TDP in the run up to the previous elections. He described his re-entry into the TDP as a ‘homecoming’.
Mr. Naidu recalled that he had chosen Thota Sitaramalakshmi, the party’s West Godavari district leader hailing from the Kapu community as a Rajya Sabha member only as part of the endeavour.
The other election-even sops of Mr. Naidu included the extension of retirement age for government employees up to 60 years from 58, hike in old age and widow pensions to Rs, 1,000 from Rs. 200 per month, waiver of farm loans, and SHG loans and allocation of Rs. 500 crore in the State budget for the welfare of Brahmins.
The Praja Garjana, which was actually intended to expose the conspiracy of the Congress regime, drifted off course into an election rally.
