Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy seems to be banking on populist schemes to keep the Congress party afloat in the state. On the eve of Sankranti, the beleaguered chief minister announced two schemes for BPL families - ‘Mana Biyyam’ (our rice) and another under which nine grocery items would be given as a package for a subsidised price.
Under the Mana Biyyam scheme, beneficiaries of the `1 per kg rice will get fine variety rice (sanna biyyam) worth `25 per kg for the same price from January 16.
Under the second scheme that will get launched on Ugadi, 2.3 crore BPL families will get one kilo red gram, one litre palmoline oil, one kilo wheat flour, one kilo wheat, half kilo rice, one kilo iodised salt, quarter kilo chilli powder, half kilo tamarind and 100 grams of turmeric powder. These will be available as a package at a subsidised price.