Andhra Pradesh Budget: Deceptive Claims by Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati, March 5 (NationPress) YSR Congress President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy labeled the state budget for 2025-26 as a collection of falsehoods with inadequate allocations.

He accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of misleading all segments of society, declaring that on March 12, the party will conduct protests at all district Collectors' offices advocating for students and their families over the unfair treatment they received.

During a press conference, he emphasized that to execute all the Super Six schemes promised by Chandrababu Naidu during his campaign, a budget allocation of Rs 79,867 crore was necessary, yet such a figure was absent from the budget or its speech.

He pointed out that Naidu has been propagating the narrative of over Rs 10 lakh crore loans taken by the previous administration, whereas the budget documents released by his government reflect a significantly lower amount, and the public debt was buried deep within the budget.

“The misinformation circulated by the TDP is merely a tactic to mask their failure to deliver on election promises, and the public is now regretting their trust in TDP’s falsehoods, believing instead that Jagan is the one who keeps promises,” remarked the YSRCP leader.

Citing statistics and referring to various documents, Jagan Mohan Reddy aimed to expose discrepancies in the budget, stating that it fails to align with electoral commitments, leaving farmers, women, students, youth, and other demographics abandoned.

Although the coalition pledged a Rs 3,000 monthly stipend to unemployed youth, this budget, like the previous one, made no mention of it. He added that the Naidu government owes Rs 72,000 to each unemployed youth in the state over the last two years.

“In the Governor’s address, it was claimed that Rs 6.5 lakh crore has already been invested and four lakh jobs have been provided. During our administration, we created 6.31 lakh jobs in total. Rather than generating new jobs, the coalition government is pushing industrialists away and laying off workers,” he stated.

Jagan Mohan Reddy also highlighted that under the Ada Bidda Nidhi scheme, Naidu pledged Rs 18,000 annually to women aged 18 to 59, but this was not mentioned in the budget. According to the voters’ list, 1.80 crore women should be receiving this benefit.

He noted that there was no funding for free bus travel for women, while the Talliki Vandanam initiative, a copy of his YSRCP government’s Amma Vodi, received minimal financial support.

“In the earlier budget, funds were earmarked but never released. Now, for 87.41 lakh students, Rs 13,112 crore is necessary, yet such an amount does not appear. Each student should be entitled to Rs 30,000 for two years. Farmers, too, were promised Rs 20,000 beyond the PM Kisan scheme, and they have been deceived in both budgets presented by the government. The Deepam scheme is also struggling with insufficient funds. The same issue persists for the pension scheme,” he added.

The YSRCP leader asserted that Naidu has been exposed for his blatant lies after claiming, during the election campaign, that he would uphold all welfare schemes initiated by Jagan Mohan Reddy, in addition to providing the Super Six. “In reality, fee reimbursement has vanished, Aarogyasri and other health programs have been weakened or eliminated, the education sector has been devastated, and all reforms introduced have been undone along with the RBKs, which were the backbone of rural support,” he concluded.