Congress will win with thinner majority

Stating that Ysr Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy was leveling baseless allegations that the government was using the state pool as a tool for electoral malpractices, 20-Point Economic Programme Chairman N Tulasi Reddy on Tuesday said that the former MP was afraid that he will be defeated in the Kadapa Lok Sabha by-elections. Mr Tulasi Reddy condemned the allegations and described them as baseless and unfounded.

Talking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan, the senior Congress leader said that there was no question of using the police force to intimidate voters and YSR Congress activist since the people were in favour of Congress candidates DL Ravindra Reddy and YS Vivekananda Reddy for the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly seats respectively.

Responding to the allegations that the government has totally failed in the implementing the schemes launched by former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr Tulasi Reddy condemned these as baseless. “The government had re-launched the prestigious Rachcha Banda Programme across the state to implement YSR’s schemes,” he said.

Mr Tulasi Reddy continued, “The government has sanctioned 4 lakh temporary ration cards and one lakh pension cards to needy people during the Rachcha Banda programme.” The senior leader added, “Not only this, the government has allotted a lion’s share of funds to implement the development and welfare programmes launched by YSR.”

Expressing confidence that the Congress candidates will win the by-elections, Mr Tulasi Reddy predicted the Ysr Congress Party will be buried once the results were declared on May 13. Referring to the main opposition party, the Telugu Desam Party, the senior Congress leader said that its candidates would lose even their deposits.

He expressed confidence that the people of the district will vote for those who stay in their constituency and serve the people with dedication. “The people will not cast their votes for Mr Jaganmohan Reddy or Ms Vijayalakshmi who did not visit their constituencies after the elections. Mr Tulasi Reddy did however admit that the Congress will win with a thinner majority than in the last elections.

Alleging that the YSR Congress activists were distributing money among the voters to influence them, he said that the Congress party would lodge a complaint in this regard with the Election Commission. Responding to the Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s claims that he would bring YSR’s Golden Rule in the state, he asked whether this would be a ‘fake gold or rowdy’ rule.