Making it clear that welfare, development and good governance are the policies of the Telugu Desam Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday told the Assembly that the state government will function with the sole aim of improving the living standard of the people.
“The state government is moving ahead by implementing the Super-Six schemes as promised in the election manifesto,” the Chief Minister said, adding that it is the TDP that laid the foundation for welfare as the party founder, NT Rama Rao’s slogan was everyone should have food to fill the stomach, clothes and the necessary shelter.
The Rs 2 per kg rice scheme which was introduced by NTR is now being implemented across the country, and he also built houses for the poor with the aim of shifting them from the huts that they were living in then to pucca houses, Naidu recalled.
Naidu was addressing the Assembly on the completion of 162 days of the TDP-led NDA government in the state. Though elections and people’s verdicts are nothing new, the awareness that the people have exhibited in the recent polls is really a history which he termed as a revolution.
“The people have given this verdict with confidence that the TDP-led NDA will certainly stand by them and will rise to their expectations. It is now our duty to rise to their expectations,” the Chief Minister told the House.
Recalling his journey in politics for more than four decades since 1978, when he was elected as MLA for the first time, Chandrababu Naidu said that he has passed through various hurdles and even enjoyed certain positions too. “Lord Venkateswara has given me rebirth after I was attacked with 24 claymore mines. I really felt very bad when my family and I were subjected to humiliation in this very House,” he said.
Asserting that power and the Chief Minister’s chair were not new to him, Naidu said that more than the TDP activists, it is the people who have given a verdict in his favour. “When people asked me immediately after I assumed charge as the Chief Minister whether I am confident that I can bring the state back on track, my reply was that I never feel unnerved and always work for the people,” he said.
Wonders will not happen overnight, and the government is building the state brick-by-brick, he stressed.
The Chief Minister declared that over 150 services will soon be brought closer to the people through WhatsApp. Once farmers post a message on WhatsApp, grain will be purchased from them, he said. Chandrabnabu also made it clear that ration card and Aadhar card holders are eligible for Deepam-2 scheme. Till now, 42.40 lakh consumers have booked gas cylinders through this scheme, he said, and added that the money will be credited to the accounts of consumers within 48 hours of booking the cylinder.
The previous government had diverted even the central funds, the Chief Minister alleged, and assured the House that safe drinking water would be supplied through Jal Jeevan Mission. “The NDA Government is moving ahead with the policy of jobs first. The exercise is already underway to fill 16,347 vacant teaching posts. More and more incentives will be provided to those who come forward to create more jobs,” the Chief Minister noted.
During his address, Chandrababu Naidu also spoke on the issue of women’s safety in the state and made it amply clear that Law and Order will be accorded the highest priority and sent a strong warning to those who resort to molestation of girls.
Chandrababu Naidu became the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister for a third time when his party, TDP, won the Assembly election with 135 of the 175 seats in June this year.
