A slew of sops announced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is also the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, in the run-up to the assembly and parliamentary elections slated for April-May this year has drawn flak from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the ruling party in the neighbouring Telangana. The TRS has branded the TDP leader and Andhra CM as a copycat.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son and TRS working president KT Rama Rao alleged that Naidu copied the welfare schemes implemented by the Telangana government with an eye at winning elections in Andhra Pradesh.

Among the schemes that KTR accused Naidu of copying from the TRS government are doubling the amount of pension for senior citizens and the disabled, increments given to the state government employees and waiver of motor vehicle tax for tractors and auto-rickshaws.

“Since welfare schemes brought the TRS back to power in Telangana, Naidu thinks he can come to power by copying our schemes. But the people of Andhra are intelligent. They won’t get carried away by such last-minute gimmicks for elections,” he said.

TDP spokesperson Dokka Manikya Varaprasad, on the other hand, rubbished KTR’s claim. “It was the Maha Kootami or People’s Front including the TDP and the Congress which had first promised to double the pension amounts. KCR copied our promise in his manifesto. Even his promise of increase in retirement age was copied from the Andhra Pradesh government,” he said.

Both the TRS and the TDP governments in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively have enhanced old-age pension amount from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 per month and that for disabled persons from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month in recent times.

As KCR advanced the state elections in Telangana by recommending dissolution of assembly eight months ahead of it tenure, which led to fresh polls in December last year, he promised to double the pension amounts. After the TRS was voted back to power in Telangana for a second term, Andhra Pradesh CM Naidu announced doubling of the pension amounts only months ahead of elections.

While KCR is, however, yet to implement the new pension scheme, Naidu announced that the new pension scheme would be implemented with effect from January itself. He is planning to organise a three-day programme beginning February 3 to disburse increased pensions.

The other major scheme which Andhra Pradesh is accused of copying from Telangana is Rythu Bandhu, a direct transfer of Rs 8,000 per acre per year into the accounts of farmers towards investment support. The TRS announced enhancement of the amount to Rs 10,000 per acre from next financial year. Naidu is planning to implement the scheme under the name of Rythu Raksha.

While TRS government launched Mission Bhagiratha to provide piped drinking water to every household, Naidu government launched a similar scheme in the name of Jala Siri in October, 2018.

The Basavatarakam Mother Kit launched by Naidu in August last is also very similar to a TRS government’s populist scheme, KCR Kit that contains all materials required for a new-born. Similarly, the Talli-Bidda Express of Andhra Pradesh government is allegedly a copy of KCR government’s Amma Odi scheme aimed at encouraging institutional deliveries.

However, “copying” does not seem to be a one-way affair. The TRS government has implemented schemes similar to those already in place in Andhra Pradesh. For example, on the lines of the Naidu government’s move to increase the retirement age of state government employees from 58 to 60 years, KCR promised to increase the retirement age to 61 years in Telangana during the last assembly elections.

Similarly, KCR has announced unemployment allowance from coming June on the lines of a scheme in place in Andhra Pradesh, where the Naidu government pays Rs 1,000 per month to jobless youth.

First Published: Jan 24, 2019 18:46 IST