​Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 85: Chandrababu Naidu, A Master At Cheating The Masses

Peddakonduru, Sri Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore district: This morning near Kodandapuram, women from self help groups belonging to Vemulapadu came and met me. They told me how they felt cheated by the TDP government and poured out their anguish to me. Their anger was palpable. They told me how Chandrababu had deceived them with fraudulent promises and how leaders and representatives of self-help groups also let them down. With his promises of loan waivers, Chandrababu
Naidu turned all of them in one fell swoop into defaulters, they complained. Hoping that their loans would be waived as promised, and taking Chandrababu Naidu at his word, they stopped paying installments and the banks in turn, started penalizing them.

Compound interest and penalty amounts made their lives miserable. As a result, all of them got sucked deeper into the vortex of debts and loans, they said. Now they are being intimidated with threats of attachment of their houses which have heightened their fears. Private banks have employed recovery agents, they said. The government also foisted the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (S.E.R.P) upon them.

Employees of this society were given targets for recovery and failure to achieve targets could cost them their jobs. Instead of fulfilling the assurances given to them
, the government has now resorted to threatening the victims. This is the ground reality with regard to the current TDP regime. It is a reflection of the Chandrababu government's style of functioning.

Paramedical staff belonging to 'Save Ayush' came to me and told me how they were betrayed by Chandrababu Naidu. They recollected that in 2012, it was the same Chandrababu Naidu who wrote to the then chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for regularisation of the jobs of these employees. Now, the chameleon-like chief minister who had vowed to fight for us, is trying to snatch our jobs away. "We had hoped that Chandrababu would fulfill his commitment after coming to power, but we find him preparing the ground to sack us. Though we were grossly underpaid, in earlier times, at least our jobs were intact. We have landed from the frying pan into the fire and will be left high and dry without jobs, they said, and sought my help. Chandrababu Naidu is adept at cheating the masses.

"You have sounded a war-cry to transform this corrupt system and I want to be a part of this mission"—these are not the words of some mature individual, but those of a spirited young girl. Sai Deepthi who completed her intermediate course and is all set to join engineering told me that she wished to join me in this movement to cleanse the system. She was on her way to get herself enrolled as a voter and had a voter's form in her hand. This awareness in her and her commitment to change the system, were qualities which inspired me even more and reminded me of my mission. She further said, "The minute I become eligible to vote, I shall vote for you Anna," and took great pride in saying this. Sai Deepthi felt hopeful that the lives of the poor would light up after YSRCP comes to power and that Rajanna Rajyam would bring about a major social transformation. She was of the opinion that the youth of the state will find a release from this current state of despondency under the TDP regime. Her words moved me and strengthened my resolve to fulfill the dreams of the young of Andhra Pradesh. I resolved to turn their dreams into reality and in order to achieve this I shall leave no stone unturned.

I have a question for the chief minister—didn’t you write a letter to the then chief minister seeking regularisation of contract workers? After having given assurances to them in your manifesto and promising employment and regularisation of jobs, is it fair on your part to snatch away existing jobs? Isn’t this plain betrayal?