On sops spree for poll ‘game-changer’, BRS woos key bases: farmers to youths, BCs to minorities

BCs make up 52 per cent of Telangana’s nearly 4 crore population, while Muslims and Christians account for over 12 per cent and 1 per cent of it, respectively.

In the run-up to the state Assembly elections due in December this year, the KCR government’s welfare schemes are aimed at consolidating the BRS’s major support base involving BCs and minorities. The government would start handing out the Rs 1 lakh cheques to the eligible beneficiaries from late August or early September, barely three months ahead of the polls.

Sources in the BRS say that the state government is readying more cash transfers – for the existing welfare schemes as well as the new ones – over the next few months till the declaration of the poll schedule by the Election Commission (EC) marking the rollout of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

The government is likely to announce Rs 3 lakh financial assistance for the construction of houses to eligible beneficiaries belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), BCs, other socially and economically backward castes, and minorities. The cash disbursement in this scheme would take place till October or November.

While the KCR government would start releasing the crop investment support amount under the existing flagship “Rythu Bandhu” scheme from August so that over 60 lakh farmers do not forget ahead of the polls its benefit they have been getting from the government.

The KCR dispensation would also raise the amount of Rs 1 lakh given to poor brides under the Kalyana Lakshmi/ Shaadi Mubarak scheme to Rs 1.20 lakhs, which will be implemented till November. Lakhs of newly-married couples would receive its cheques just ahead of the polls.

Sources say that for the Rabi crop the BRS government may increase the Rythu Bandhu assistance from Rs 10,000 per acre per year to Rs 12,000. The pension for differently-abled has also been increased by Rs 1,000 – from Rs 3,016 to Rs 4,016.

These measures are also aimed at countering the Opposition Congress’s bid to replicate the welfare schemes and guarantees in Telangana that the latter announced in the recent Karnataka Assembly polls before clinching it.

Some of the programmes that the Telangana Congress promises to implement if it comes to power include providing an LPG cylinder at Rs 500 to eligible beneficiaries, the crop investment assistance of Rs 15,000 per acre to all farmers including tenant farmers, monthly pension of Rs 4,000 to unemployed individuals, senior citizens, widows and disabled persons, among others.

The BRS is hoping that the outreach to BCs and minorities with the Rs 1 lakh scheme will be a game-changer and give the BRS a hat-trick win. The schemes will create a wave of goodwill in favour of BRS,’’ said BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar. With the selection of beneficiaries for the Rs 1 lakh scheme firmly in the hands of the district in-charge Ministers, they will ensure those who benefit favour the BRS. The Government Orders (GOs) say that its selection process will be taken up by the district level monitoring committee/screening cum selection committee headed by the collector, who will take the approval of the district in-charge Minister.

While the financial assistance scheme for BCs has already created a huge interest among people, its extension to Muslims and Christians would fuel it. A large number of rural and urban poor Muslims, mainly young voters, will become eligible for the cash transfer in this scheme just before the elections.

The GO, issued by Minorities Welfare Department secretary Syed Omar Jaleel, extends the “Economic Support Scheme with 100 per cent subsidy for the minority beneficiaries up to Rs 1 lakh”, setting 21-55 years as the age limit for applicants as on June 2, 2023. The annual income of an applicant should not exceed Rs 1.50 lakhs in rural areas and Rs 2 lakhs in urban areas.