Chief ministers in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh did not know the importance of Bathukamma festival and the then leaders from the Telangana region also did not care, Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy remarked on Friday.
Similarly, the welfare schemes that are central to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government were not visible prior during the terms of the previous governments up to 2014 — “that difference itself is good governance,” he said.
Speaking at an event to launch the distribution of Bathukamma sarees to eligible beneficiaries in the town, Mr. Reddy drew a comparison with the pre-Telangana times, and said the State has been continuing its march of progress with the re-election of the TRS in 2018.
He touched upon the issues that were part of prominent electoral speeches — that the previous governments resorted to lathi charge when asked for seed and electricity supply, and wondered why States ruled by the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, and their leaders, do not have Rythu Bandhu, free electricity supply and the like.
“TRS government is giving Kalyana Lakshmi, ₹ 13,000 to women at first delivery and celebrating festivals with the poor, which were never asked by anyone, but Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao delivered,” he said, describing it an example of good governance.
Municipal Chairperson Perumalla Annapurna and Rajya Sabha member Badugula Lingaiah Yadav were present in the distribution programme.