TDP president, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, on Friday demanded that Jagan Mohan Reddy shoulder the responsibility for the deaths of the pensioners and opt out as the Chief Minister.
Chandrababu Naidu told media persons at Nallajerla in East Godavari district that for his political benefits Jagan has hatched conspiracies claiming the innocent lives of the pensioners. Jagan has the habit of resorting to cheap politics even on dead bodies, Chandrababu Naidu remarked.
Promising to pay Rs 4,000 monthly pension to every household immediately after coming to power, the former chief minister made it clear that the revised pension will be applicable from the month of April itself and the dues for April, May and June will be paid immediately. “I will be the eldest son of every house and will distribute the pension directly at your doorstep,” Chandrababu Naidu said.
Chandrabau Naidu said that he always thinks about the welfare of society while Jagan has only selfish-ends and stated that Jagan has been claiming innocent lives and taking wild pleasure from it. “We should always seek votes by doing good things for the people but not by resorting to misinformation campaign,” he added.
Maintaining that Jagan had earlier emerged victorious in the polls by killing his own paternal uncle and passing the buck on the TDP, Chandrababu Naidu said that Jagan has utilised even the death of his own father for his political gains. Now, becoming responsible for the death of several innocent pensioners, he is again trying to win these elections, Chandrababu Naidu remarked.
Asking as to why the pensions were not paid on 1st of this month, he felt that with the fear of losing power he borrowed huge amount of money and cleared the Rs 13,000 cr worth of pending bills of the contractors. The Election Commission did not say that the pensions should not be distributed at the doorstep but only ordered that the services of the volunteers should not be utilised for this purpose, Chandrababu Naidu clarified.
Making it clear that the TDP does not oppose the volunteer system, he said the system will be continued by the TDP too after coming to power. Since this Government is not coming back to power, the coming TDP allied NDA government will not take back those volunteers who have already submitted their resignations. The YSRCP Government is using the volunteers for its political advantage and making them fall victims for the selfishness of the ruling party leaders, he stated.
The TDP has the patent rights on the pensions as it was the party founder, the late NT Rama Rao, who introduced the scheme with Rs 30 per month for each beneficiary, Chandrababu Naidu said and added that after he came to power he increased it to Rs 75 while the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy as the then chief minister had revised it again in 2004 to Rs 200. “Again when I came back to power in 2014 I increased it to Rs 1,000 and again revised it to Rs 2,000 as the cost of living has gone up,” the TDP supremo recalled.
Calling Jagan as the most selfish person under the sky, Chandrababu Naidu said that it is the TDP allied NDA that is going to come to power in these elections and advised the officials not to get into trouble by violating the norms to temporarily satisfy the ruling party leaders.