In the mid of last year, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu announced the ‘super six’, a set of election promises at a large party meeting held in Andhra Pradesh. Prominent among them was the free bus ride for all women in the state. This announcement came days after the Congress party rode to power in the Karnataka Assembly elections, having made exactly the same promise.
In the latter part of 2023, the Congress unit of Telangana also replicated the poll guarantee of providing free bus travel to women, and it won power, dislodging the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The Andhra Pradesh Congress party also promised the same in their manifesto released recently.
However, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which had enough time to study the pros and cons of the scheme, has decided not to give in to the temptation of including the populist scheme in their manifesto. Chief Minister and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy released the party manifesto on Saturday, where he stressed sticking to the deliverables. Though some of the ‘super six’ promises of the TDP boasted of higher monetary benefits for farmers and pensioners, the YSRCP did not attempt to outmatch the amount.
“An additional Rs 80,000 crores per year is required to fulfill the promises of the TDP, which is not possible,” said Jagan, who asserted that he chose to be realistic and credible. He criticized the alliance of TDP-BJP-Jana Sena party for failing to fulfill the promises made in 2014, when the three parties last came together to fight elections. The YSRCP highlighted that they implemented 99 per cent of the promises made in the last term’s manifesto in 2019 and intend to post a similar record.
Named ‘Jagananna Navaratnalu Plus’, the manifesto is a fortified version of the last term’s promises. Jagan has decided to continue most of his pet welfare schemes—with incremental amounts compared to the existing figure—that are targeted at the rural and various downtrodden sections of society and have earned a strong voter base for the YSRCP. According to the CM, around Rs 2,70,000 crores have been deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes in the state in the last 5 years.
Responding to the allegations of the opposition that the YSRCP government is not focused on capital expenditure, he furnished data to prove them wrong. Between 2014 and 2019, when the TDP was in power in the state, the annual capital expenditure was Rs 15,000 crores, whereas between 2019 and 2024, under YSRCP government rule, the capital expenditure was Rs 17,000 crores, according to slides shown during the event.
With the opposition alliance attempting to capture the urban and literate voters, claiming poor infrastructure development and lack of investments in the state, the YSRCP has tried to allay the narrative with attention to specific areas. The CM has assured that he will prioritize the construction and maintenance of roads. Apart from that, there are plans to establish industrial parks in each district and also turn each district headquarters into a smart city.
Once in power, the party wants to expedite the construction of an international airport and the development of ports and harbors. Housing layouts will be taken up in urban areas for middle-income groups with a corpus fund of Rs 2000 crores. After Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, too, has recognized the gig and platform workers. Around one lakh delivery staff and drivers working for app-based companies like Zomato, Swiggy, and Uber operating in urban or semi-urban areas will be covered for Rs 5 lakhs under accidental death insurance.
