Andhra Pradesh Congress, which has no major issue at hand to remain in the in the news, is inviting AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi to the state. To be precise, Rahul is coming to the village on February 2, where his mother Sonia Gandhi and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the UPA government’s first major welfare program Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). Whenever Congress finds its spirits are down, the party deploys the scion of Nehru-Gandhi family to boost the morale of the workers and leaders. This time round commemorating the launch of UPA-I’s flagship program forms the occasion for Rahul’s visit to Anantapur district. This is his second visit to the district in the past eight months, the first being in July 2015.
Recently, it was Rahul’s visit to Hyderabad Central University (HCU) that transformed student Rohit’s suicide, what looked like campus politics, into a big national issue. Similarly, it was Rahul’s visit to Anantapur district’s drought stricken villages that made the Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh demand a major issue. AP Congress chief Raghuvira Reddy chose a village Obuladevara Cheruvu, which Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi visited in 1979 for the AICC vice president’s first visit post bifurcation. On July 24, 2015 the AICC vice president conducted a 10 km-long padayatra from Obuladevara Cheruvu to Mamillakunta palli, to highlight the plight of the farmers and weavers in the district. He interacted with the villagers and addressing the villagers and reminded the people that Special Status was assured to Andhra Pradesh to pave the path for development. He said he would fight for it as it was the assurance from UPA government. He accused TDP and BJP of pushing the crucial demand under carpet. He did not even spare Opposition leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy. Rahul assured people that he would visit any place in Andhra Pradesh, any time the people suggest to fight for the special status. Then the issue has been rocking the state ever since.
Now, Raghuvira finds tenth anniversary of launching of MNREGS as an appropriate occasion to remind the people of the importance of the scheme. The scheme was launched from Bandlapalli, a small village near Anantapur town, by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, then rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad. The then chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy wanted the program to be launched from Anantpur district because the district witnessed too many suicides by farmers and weavers, which was in fact responsible for the fall of TDP government led by Chandrababu Naidu in 2004.
Now, with the suicides of farmers going on unabated, Raghuvira wants Rahul to ask the TDP and BJP governments as to what they had done to the farmers and weavers who were in the grip of severe crisis.
The MNREGS is dubbed as the largest employment generation program in the world. Though there are complaints of abuse of the program, still this is seen as the major employment provider the country.
