YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday accused the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government of betraying people’s faith by failing to allocate adequate funds to the welfare schemes in the state budget for 2025-26.
Describing the state budget as a bundle of lies, Jagan said the Chandrababu Naidu government should have allocated ₹79,867 crore for the implementation of all its Super Six schemes announced during the electioneering last year.
“When we look at the budget, the allocations are too meagre that do not match with the actual requirement,” he said, while addressing a press conference at his residence.
“The lies being spread by Naidu about the financial crisis are only to cover up his inability to fulfil the election promises. The people are now repenting for once again believing the lies of the TDP,” he said.
Reeling out the figures, Jagan said Naidu had backtracked on several promises he had made before the elections. “He promised a monthly stipend of ₹3,000 to the unemployed youth, but there was no mention of it in the budget. For two years, the Naidu government owes ₹72,000 to each unemployed youth of the state,” he said.
Under Ada Bidda Nidhi scheme, Naidu had promised ₹18,000 annually to women in the age group of 18 to 59, but there was no mention of it in the budget. “As per the voters’ list, 1.80 crore (18 million) women voters have to get the benefit under the scheme. As such, the government owes ₹36,000 to every woman of that age group,” he said.
The YSRCP president also pointed out that no allocation was made for free bus travel for women, which is a very small component in the two budgets. “Under the Thalliki Vandanam, which is a replica of “Amma Vodi” scheme, only meagre funds were allocated. For the 87.41 lakh (8.741 million) students, an amount of ₹13,112 crore is required, but such a figure does not exist in the budget. Every student should be getting ₹30,000 for the two years,” he said.
So is the case with farmers, who were promised ₹20,000 over and above the PM Kisan scheme and farmers were cheated in the two budgets presented by the government, he said. “The Deepam scheme is also blinking with meagre funds. The same pattern continues for pension scheme as well,” he said.
Jagan said several schemes like the fees reimbursement were ignored, Aarogyasri and other health initiatives were diluted or deleted, education sector had been vandalised and all the reforms like Rythu Bharosa Kendras were given a go-bye.
Reacting strongly to Jagan’s comments, senior TDP leader and state revenue minister Anagani Satyaprasad said the YSRCP chief was spewing venom on the government which was implementing all its promises systematically.
“Jagan is envious of our people-oriented governance. He is reeling out fabricated figures on the welfare schemes to run down our government. We have been implementing all our promises one after the other and the people are happy about it,” Satyaprasad claimed.