-Public funds being misused to spread lies: Kuna
-Commissioner responsible for false campaigns
AMARAVATI: TDP ex MLA Kuna Ravi Kumar on Tuesday accused the YSRCP Government of spending huge public funds to spread ‘false campaigns’ against the previous Chandrababu Naigu regime.
Ravi Kumar said the latest front advertisements given by Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Budi Mutyala Raju on old age pensions were full of untruths and deliberate lies.
Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader said the Chandrababu regime distributed Rs. 1,200 Cr at Rs. 2,000 each for 54.25 lakh old age, widow and disabled persons in 2018-`19. But, the Minister gave a false account saying that the TDP regime gave just Rs. 470 Cr to 39 lakh beneficiaries at the rate of Rs. 1,000 only per person.
Ravi Kumar held the I&PR Commissioner totally responsible for this false propaganda at the cost of public exchequer. Just like how 8 IAS officers faced court sentences recently, the I&PR Commissioner would also have to stand before the court for his ‘criminal intentions’. The TDP would press criminal charges against this false campaign.
The TDP ex MLA asserted that the Minister’s statement contradicted the figures given by the YCP Government in the Assembly itself in 2019. It said at that time that the previous TDP regime gave Rs. 1,200 Cr to 54.25 pension beneficiaries. The YCP Ministers were resorting to false campaigns to divert public attention from their Government’s failures.
Condemning the misinformation propaganda, Ravi Kumar said it was NTR who first introduced the Rs. 30 old age agri pensions for the first time in the country. Later, the PV Narasimha Rao regime at the Centre implemented it in all the States. Chandrababu Naidu increased these pension amounts by Rs. 1,875 while YSR and Jagan put together had given just Rs. 625.
The TDP leader recalled how Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy ruthlessly betrayed ‘avva thathalu’ (grandmas and grandads) by not fulfilling his election promise on Rs. 3,000 old age pensions. Telangana was giving pensions for those above 57 years but Jagan Reddy was not giving such benefits in AP.
Ravi Kumar said Jagan Reddy had also cheated women by getting their votes by promising to give Rs. 3,000 pension for those above 45 years. After coming to power, he did not fulfill this promise but only focused on cancellations and demolitions.
