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The Congress manifesto in Telangana released by party president Mallikarjun Kharge at the Gandhi Bhavan on Friday spells out six guarantees that the party has promised to fulfil if it comes to power.
Titled “Abhay Hastham (The hand that protects)”, the slogan of the 42-page manifesto is “Marpu kavali, Congress ravali (change is required, Congress has to come)”. It also contains the Warangal Rythu Declaration, Hyderabad Youth Declaration, Chevella Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Declaration, Minority Declaration, and Kamareddy Backward Classes Declaration. From gold coins for below-poverty-line (BPL) women at the time of marriage, free scooters for girl students and free Wi-Fi for students to salary hikes for various government and contract workers, and an increased minimum support price for crops, the Congress has promised more of everything the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has already offered.
The manifesto is divided into 37 points on various issues ranging from welfare for the families of those killed during the Telangana Movement, farmers, and transgender people to excise policy and the development of municipal areas. Setting aside speculation about allegations of the BRS, the Congress manifesto says: “Farmers will be provided with uninterrupted free power for 24 hours.”
Another major assurance is to provide Rs 1 lakh and 10 gms of gold for the weddings of Hindu girls and Rs 1.6 lakh for girls from minority communities belonging to families below the poverty line. This is the “Indiramma” gift. The party has also promised to provide free electric scooters to women students above 18 years old pursuing higher education.
1. As part of the six guarantees, under the Mahalakshmi scheme for women, the Congress has promised Rs 2,500 monthly financial assistance; LPG cylinders at Rs 500; and free travel for women in state-run buses.
2. Under Rythu Bharosa, Rs 15,000 per acre will be paid to farmers and Rs 12,000 will be given to tenant farmers. A bonus of Rs 500 per quintal will be provided for paddy.
3. Under Gruha Jyothi, all households will get up to 200 units of free electricity.
4. Under Indiramma Indlu, families not owning a house will be provided a site for one and Rs 5 lakh for construction. Families of those killed during the Telangana Movement will be provided 250-square-yard plots to build homes.
5. Under Yuva Vikasam, students with Vidya Bharosa cards will receive Rs 5 lakh to help pay for college fees, travel expenses, study materials, hostel fees, exam fees, skill development courses, laptops or research instruments and other education-related expenditures. Every mandal will also get a Telangana International School.
6. Under Cheyutha, a Rs 4,000 monthly pension will be paid to senior citizens, widows, people with disabilities, beedi workers, single women, toddy tappers, weavers, AIDS and filaria patients, and kidney patients undergoing dialysis. The Rajiv Aarogyasri will also provide health insurance up to Rs 10 lakh.
The Congress announced that it would waive crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh if it were to win. It also promised to reopen all the closed sugar factories, establish a turmeric board, and increase the minimum support price for 10 crops.
Minority Declaration: The manifesto promises a caste survey within six months of forming the government and fair reservation for all backward classes, including minorities, in government jobs, educational institutions, and welfare schemes. The party also said it would increase the annual welfare budget for minorities to Rs 4,000 crore and introduce a dedicated minorities sub-plan to ensure optimal budget allocation and utilisation.
The Congress manifesto appears to have outdone some of the BRS’s promises. While the BRS said it would increase the Rythu Bandhu annual funding from existing Rs 10,000 per acre to Rs 16,000 per acre over the next five years, the Congress has promised Rs 15,000 per year as soon as it forms government. The BRS has promised to increase pensions to Rs 5,000 from the existing Rs 3,016, but the Congress has promised to give Rs 4,000 per month immediately. For LPG cylinders though, the BRS said it would provide each for Rs 400 compared to the Congress’s Rs 500 offer. Both parties have promised to give land to families without a home and funds to construct houses.
A few items listed in the manifesto are likely to make the BRS see red. Among them is the party’s promise to investigate alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, the BRS’s flagship infrastructure project.
“A judicial inquiry will be conducted by a sitting High Court judge into all irregularities and corruption in the construction of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project,” the manifesto states. “Legal action will be taken, based on a full-fledged inquiry by a retired High Court Judge on the various scandal and corruption allegations in the rule of the BRS government.”
Last month, a major controversy erupted over alleged engineering lapses in the Rs 1.5 lakh crore Kaleshwaram project, with the Opposition parties, including the Congress and the BJP, lashing out at the BRS government after several piers were found damaged at Medigadda barrage in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.
The BRS has maintained the damage was “not as serious” as projected by Opposition parties in their poll campaigns. L&T, which built the barrage, has said it is working on repairing the damage.
The manifesto also sees the party clash with the BRS over the legacy of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. With the BRS having created 23 new districts, the Congress said it would name a district after the former PM who was born in Warangal district. Since the formation of Telangana in 2014, Chief Minister K Chandrashekara Rao, or KCR, has accorded importance to Narasimha Rao. In June, it organised programmes to celebrate his 102nd birth anniversary while the Congress remained silent.
The two parties have also been sparring over the legacy of the Telangana statehood movement. In June, KCR inaugurated the Rs 179-crore Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial, with the BRS appearing to take ownership of the movement and claiming it had taken care of those affected by the deaths during the agitation. In its manifesto, the Congress has promised to give government jobs to a member of the families of those killed and a monthly pension of Rs 25,000 for each family. It also promised to drop all cases filed against those who participated in the agitation and promised to issue official government ID cards recognising them as “Telangana Movement Fighters”.
The Congress has gone all out to reach out to the Backward Classes (BC) with a host of caste-based promises, but it has the lowest number of candidates from these communities. The party has fielded 20 OBC candidates compared to the BJP’s 39 and the 24 in the BRS list.
In its manifesto though, the party has promised to increase BC reservation to 42% from the existing 23% in local bodies to provide 23,973 new political leadership positions to BCs in panchayats and municipalities. It has also said it will provide sub-categorisation in BC reservations in local bodies and 42% reservation for BCs in government civil construction and maintenance contracts.
The Congress has promised to spend Rs 20,000 crore a year on BC welfare and set up a separate Most Backward Classes (MBCs) ministry. The manifesto also states that corporations will be established for all BC castes to oversee their overall development, BC youth will be able to avail interest-free loans and collateral-free loans up to 10 lakhs to establish small businesses and pursue higher education, and that old-age pension eligibility age for all communities engaged in caste-based occupations will be decreased from 57 to 50.
