Praja Rajyam, TDP manifestos full of freebies

PR to allot four seats to women in Nellore

NELLORE: Praja Rajyam district unit has recommended the party to allot four Assembly constituencies for women. Already, the list of aspirants has been sent to the party president, said the Praja Rajyam district convener and MLC Bommireddy Raghavender Reddy

Praja Rajyam, TDP manifestos full of freebies

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: In a sign of times when no election manifesto appears complete without promise of freebies, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has promised a free colour TV, besides cash transfer to the poor while Praja Rajyam, free school education for all.

In offering colour TV to all the poor families not having one, the TDP has taken a leaf out of DMK in Tamil Nadu. Under the Cash Transfer Scheme (CTS), the party, if it comes to power, plans to transfer Rs. 2,000 every month each to the poorest of poor families, Rs. 1,500 to the poor and Rs. 1,000 to the middle classes.

It would also come up with a comprehensive healthcare scheme for the poor.

PR to focus on graft, free land and education Special Correspondent Distant dreams: PR leaders P. Shivshankar (left) and P. Upendra at the release of the party’s election manifesto in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: An inquiry by a sitting judge into political corruption during the Congress and Telugu Desam regimes in the past 15 years and a more specific probe into alleged irregularities in the ‘Jalayagnam’ programme are among the Praja Rajyam’s promises if elected to power.

Releasing the party’s draft manifesto for the 2009 elections, convenors P. Shivshankar and P. Upendra said the final document would be released by March 31 after circulating the draft among sections of people, including the intelligentsia.

The beginning

The 50-page draft explains why the Praja Rajyam had come into existence. It states that people of the State wanted a change because there was a lack of political will, bureaucratic apathy, unbridled corruption and failure of enforcement agencies, all of which made prosperity a distant dream. Both the Congress and the TDP had, in 52 years delivered virtually nothing.

The Praja Rajyam recognised the naxalite movement as one that emanated from socio-economic problems. It would be the PR’s endeavour to bring underground Maoists into mainstream of society.

The party said that there would be no fake encounters and that a lenient view would be taken on naxal-related criminal cases.

Wet land

An important aspect of the manifesto is the promise of two-and-a-half acres of wet land or five acres of land to all eligible, landless poor families. The land would also be integrated into development schemes.

“We will take over endowment lands, wastelands and surplus lands,” Katti Padma Rao, a committee member, said. The Praja Rajyam promised a ‘weaver security fund’ to help the handloom industry. Also, a Rs. 500-crore ‘price fluctuation control fund’ and market intervention schemes to control markets and prices of essential commodities is promised. The pension of Rs. 200 a month for senior citizens would be increased to Rs. 500. On the education front, the PR promises free education to girls from ‘KG to PG’, as also to those from the SCs and STs, BCs and economically backward classes (EBC), compulsory, free education for all up to Class 10 and waiver of fee for all common entrance tests. The manifesto also referred to EBCs’ development.