Telugu Desam Party (TDP) spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi on Wednesday slammed the State government for making ‘false claims’ regarding interest-free loans to small traders like vendors and street hawkers.
“The newly-launched Jagananna Thodu scheme is just a ‘Jagananna Kabja’ programme. This scheme is aimed at taking credit for the Prime Minister SVANidhi loans being given to the small traders all over the country,” Mr. Pattabhi alleged.
In fact, these small loans of ₹10,000 were already being given in a big way in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana while Andhra Pradesh is lagging behind all these months, he alleged.
Addressing a press conference, the TDP leader objected to the manner in which the State government was putting its own spin on the interest-free loan scheme in the State. “Initially, the government was asking for advance payment of 7% interest on these small loans. The same interest would be deposited back into the bank accounts at a later date. The poor traders cannot depend on this government considering the shock that farmers got in the Sunna Vaddi scheme,” he alleged.
