YSRCP outreach programme: CM Jagan unhappy with 27 MLAs, 6 ministers, tells them to buck up

In a performance analysis done by poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s IPAC, it was found that a few  MLAs were sending their family members to households while they stayed away from the outreach programme. And few had not participated at all.

Jagan also expressed his dissatisfaction over the working of a few regional coordinators of the party.

Of the 70 days of the door-to-door campaign, these six ministers and 27 MLAs, including some former ministers, participated in the programme for just about 15 days.

Sources in the YSRCP said ministers Buggana Rajendranath, Pinipe Viswaroop, RK Roja, Dadisetty Raja, Karumuri Nageswar Rao, and Taneti Vanitha were lagging in their participation in the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhuthvam.

Two-month deadline

The YSRCP supremo gave two months’ time to the MLAs to improve their participation in the programme.

He also said a survey would be conducted to gauge the popularity of all MLAs six months before the 2024 election and laggards would be denied the party nomination to contest.

Jagan, however, noted that the MLAs and MPs have come a long way since the door-to-door mega outreach campaign was launched in May. Many of them have fallen in line and started participating in the campaign.

“The chief minister said there has been improvement in the participation of MLAs in the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhuthvam programme when compared to the initial reviews or workshops. But he said some MLAs are still not taking the programme seriously,” a YSRCP MLA who participated in Wednesday’s workshop told South First.

“Jagan said he would again meet us in early December and asked those MLAs to improve. He suggested that each MLA spend quality time at the households rather than make just a namesake visit, so that it will have a long-lasting impact on the voters,” the MLA added.

Jagan’s ‘Target 175’

YSRCP MLAs at the workshop held on Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhuthvam (Supplied)

Addressing party MLAs and coordinators on Wednesday, Jagan said there were no shortcuts, and every leader should take part in the programme for at least 16 days in a month and tell people about the welfare activities being carried out by the government.

As 87 percent of the houses have beneficiaries of our welfare schemes and we have fulfilled 98.4 percent of the promises while disbursing ₹1.71 lakh crore, winning all 175 Assembly seats is not impossible, the YSRCP supremo said.

“You have to cover all the houses when you go to a village ward secretariat. During your visits, you should solve the problems of the people and ensure funds are sanctioned to the village and ward secretariat,” he was quoted as saying by the MLA who spoke to South First.

Elections are 19 months away and since politics is our chosen field, we must follow the action plan, Jagan said, adding the next review will be in first week of December.

How DBT data helps YSRCP MLAs

Data on direct benefit transfers, or DBT, of financial assistance has come in handy for YSRCP MLAs during the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam programme as they are able to tell each family how much they benefited with “pin-point accuracy”.

To calculate and arrive at the exact amount of financial assistance each beneficiary among the 1.67 crore beneficiary families has received — along with a break-up of each scheme — in the last three years would have been a herculean task if not for the new volunteer and village/ward secretariat system introduced by the YSRCP government as part of its decentralisation of governance.

An MLA visiting a family in his or her constituency as part of the programme is provided a letter with details of the financial assistance each member of the family has received.

For instance, a woman beneficiary living under one of the ward secretariats of the Pattabhipuram area in Guntur has received a total of about ₹1,40,000 financial assistance under several DBT schemes of the government in the last three years.

The break-up of the total amount: ₹86,000 under YSR Pension Kanuka, ₹4,800 under YSR Sunna Vaddi, ₹15,000 under EBC Nestham and ₹35,000 under YSR Asara.