The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), if voted to power in 2024 Assembly elections, will issue job notifications on January 1 every year, party national general secretary N. Lokesh said at a public meeting organised as a part of his Yuva Galam padayatra at Jogannapeta in Kadiri Assembly constituency on March 19 (Sunday).
The TDP leader walked 600 km by Sunday, the 47th day of his padayatra. Addressing a well-attended public meeting, Mr. Lokesh alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had failed to develop the State by not investing in irrigation projects.
Referring to the victory of TDP-backed candidates in the MLC elections, Mr. Lokesh said, “People of the three regions in the State have shown the ruling party (YSRCP) its place in 108 Assembly constituencies of nine undivided districts.”
The TDP leader said that the government had increased the power tariff by ‘seven times in the last four years’ and asked the people if they had got jobs as promised before the 2029 elections.
He alleged that the YSRCP government had stopped pensions of 6 lakh people and that the Backward Classes (BCs) were being treated unfairly. “The TDP, if voted to power, will bring a new legislation on par with the SC/ST Atrocities Act and review all the cases registered against the BCs,” he said, alleging that the YSRCP government had stopped 27 schemes meant for Dalit welfare.
Mr. Lokesh also said that the government did not start work pertaining to many irrigation projects. “The YSRCP had promised to complete the remaining 20% work of the Polavaram project, but it has failed to do so,” he said and warned that the completion of the Upper Bhadra project in Karnataka would ‘make the Rayalaseema region a desert’.
Referring to development projects, he said that no new project had been brought to the Rayalaseema region in the YSRCOP tenure, he said and pointed put that the previous TDP government had brought brands such as Jockey, KIA India and several other to the region.
“We will complete the Handri-Neeva work on a priority basis. Tomato farmers will get cold storage facility and ketchup factory, besides remunerative price for their produce,” he promised.
The TDP leader, while beginning his padayatra in Sri Sathya Sai district on Saturday, described the victory of the TDP-backed candidates in the MLC graduates’ constituencies as the ‘victory of democracy’.
The TDP leader received a grand welcome on Saturday (March 18) night when he arrived in the Kadiri Assembly constituency. He is scheduled to tour Sri Sathya Sai, Anantapur, Kurnool and Nandyal districts as a part of his padayatra before he enters Kadapa district.
Women gathered in large numbers to submit representations to Mr. Lokesh as many TDP activists took sefies with him. Mr. Lokesh walked up to Thanakallu in Kadiri constituency. Many women complained to Mr. Lokesh at Kadhamanipalli that their pensions were discontinued after the YSRCP assumed the office.
Mr. Lokesh walked 14 km in Sri Sathya Sai district, completing 591 km of his Yuva Galam padayatra by Saturday evening. “The victory of TDP-backed candidates in the Rayalaseema east and west graduates’ constituencies is an indication of what is in store in the 2024 Assembly elections,” he said.
Mr. Lokesh held a meeting with the STs at Kokkinti Cross where the STs complained of lack of development.
The TDP leader also promised to solve the unemployment problem and fill up all backlog posts in the ST category.
