Congress Faces Double Trouble In Telangana

Political parties go to any extent to clinch power. Apparently, freebies are the only means to woo the electorate, even at the expense of the state’s progress.

Despite evidence about how the states struggle to meet the expenditure of the freebies and how development gets impeded due to the freebie culture, political parties do not desist from their promises and guarantees.

In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is relentlessly borrowing money from all possible sources to distribute the funds to the poor, stating that welfare of the downtrodden is the only motto of his government.

In neighbouring Telangana too, the Congress government, headed by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, is in neck-deep trouble unable to decipher ways to foot the bills of all the six guarantees promised by the party to the public during the hustings.

In what can be termed a double fiasco, the Congress government has been pushed into a surprising situation where it is being forced to bear the expenses of one other freebie, to implement one of the six guarantees, as promised to the public.

Under Mahalakshmi scheme, the Congress government promised to facilitate all women in the state travel free in RTC buses. The scheme received huge appreciation from the women in the state and in neighbouring Karnataka also, as it is being implemented there too.

However, on the downside, the auto and cab drivers faced threat due to the implementation of free travel in RTC bus. Soon the auto drivers took to the streets and protested against the state government’s popular scheme.

Boggled by the development, the Congress government in Telangana is being forced to shell out Rs 12,000 per annum to the auto drivers as compensation to the loss of their livelihood. Fearing that cab drivers would follow suit, the government announced similar solatium to them too.

To avoid backlash from the women and general public, the Congress government had to keep Mahalakshmi intact and in this bid, has now been pushed deep into the slush of deficit budget.