BJP’s pension jumla not a first in bypolls in Telangana

BJP’s Munugode bypoll candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy too joined the bandwagon of pension ‘promisors’, offering to hike the Aasara pension from Rs 2,016 to Rs 3,000

By Anil Kumar

Hyderabad: A hike in pensions appears to be one of the favourite promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one which its leaders repeatedly throw in during by-polls in the State, and with the same regularity, fail to keep as well.

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BJP’s Munugode bypoll candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy too joined the bandwagon of pension ‘promisors’, offering to hike the Aasara pension from Rs 2,016 to Rs 3,000, saying that he would talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi if required to do the same.

The same promise was all over the campaigns during the Dubbaka and Huzurabad bypoll. In Dubbaka, the BJP’s M Raghunandan Rao, who went on win, during his campaign had promised to provide Rs 3,000 pensions per month to aged weavers and beedi workers.

He even promised two oxen and a plough to farmers of the constituency. Two years have passed by, by the weavers and beedi workers are waiting for Rs 3,000, so are the farmers for the oxen. In Huzurabad, Etala Rajender, also promised to provide Rs 3,000 pension to aged farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana. The promise met the same fate as the Dubbaka promise.

The TRS (now BRS) has reacted to the promise campaign, saying that that the BJP knows it cannot win the Munugode by-poll, which was it was making false promises for poll gains.

Refuting Rajgopal Reddy’s allegations that the State government had neglected Munugode, the ruling party pointed out that the TRS government had spent about Rs 10,260 crore for implementing various welfare programmes benefiting 3,34,994 beneficiaries in Munugode assembly constituency in the last eight years.

In Dubbaka constituency too, the State government was providing Aasara pensions to about 50,000 beneficiaries. In Huzurabad, the government was providing Aasara pensions to 31,404 beneficiaries.