VIJAYAWADA: For the first time after assuming charge over three years ago, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is set to visit Kuppam, Opposition leader and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s home turf, to release third tranche of aid under YSR Cheyutha scheme on September 22. As part of the initiative, women— aged between 45 and 60 belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Backward Classes (BC) and Minorities—receive financial aid of `18,750 per year. The scheme is aimed at empowering women.
Over the past few months, Jagan has been aggressively motivating party leaders to focus on winning all 175 Assembly seats in the State. Stating that the task is possible, he has reiterated that Mission 175 should begin from Kuppam, the segment which has elected Naidu for seven consecutive times. In this context, choosing Kuppam to disburse aid under YSR Cheyutha gains significance as it has a good population of BC voters.
According to sources, Jagan aims to wrest Kuppam from the former chief minister and ensure that TDP no longer has presence in the State. Senior YSRC leader and Naidu’s arch rival, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, also a minister in Jagan’s cabinet, has been entrusted with the task of strengthening the party in the segment.
The party has also managed to bring in several TDP leaders into its fold, helping it to win almost all the elections, including municipal, MPTC and ZPTC polls, in Kuppam constituency held after 2019 elections.
“So far, we have won all the elections held in the constituency by telling people about government initiatives. If we continue the same hard work, we can undoubtedly wrest the Assembly seat, Jagan has been repeatedly telling his party leaders.
YSRC already announced its candidate for Kuppam
As part of its strategy, the YSRC had announced the candidature of MLC KRG Bharat for Kuppam Assembly seat for the 2024 elections to ensure that the leader gets a stronghold on the party cadre as well as the electorate. Sounding the poll bugle, Jagan chose Kuppam to kick start his interactive sessions with party cadre. Jagan even announced that Bharat would find place in the Cabinet, if he wins in 2024. In line with his strategy to wrest Naidu’s citadel, the chief minister announced Rs 65 crore for taking up development works in Kuppam municipality. The YSRC government even made Kuppam a revenue division.
A party leader close to the developments in the region told TNIE that Ramachandra Reddy has been chalking out strategies and expressed that the YSRC party wants to create an impression that the TDP has weakened in the constituency. He added, “The message will be spread across the State, thus hitting the morale of TDP workers.”
A major cause of concern for Naidu could be the fact that he won the seat with a margin of just 30,000 votes in 2019 as against 47,000 in 2014.
STRATEGY TO WEAKEN TDP?
Naidu, who seems to have got the wind of the strategies, has been often touring his constituency and meeting grass root level workers to keep his flock together