Reddy tries to woo weaker sections in AP ahead of elections

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is trying to woo the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes, backward classes, minorities, women and youths with a slew of schemes ahead of the next elections.
The SC/ST Sub-plan Act is quite important to target these sections, particularly the SCs who remain alienated from the Congress for different reasons.
"We are going to spend Rs 12,250 crore this year under the SC and ST sub-plans," Reddy said recently.
But, operational guidelines relating to implementation of the sub-plan have not been framed yet, though the Act was passed in December last.
Two months have elapsed since the vote-on-account Budget was passed but no funds have been spent on the sub-plans, officials in the Social Welfare Department agreed.

With the main opposition Telugu Desam Party coming out with a 'BC Declaration' with programmes aimed at the welfare of Backward Classes, the Chief Minister has also been declaring that the government would soon follow suit.
"We will soon come out with special packages for these sections. We have already allotted Rs 3,500 crore for BC welfare and Rs 1,027 crore for minority welfare in this year's budget," the Chief Minister told ministers and his party MLAs during a recent trip to Guntur.
"Our main target is to attract SC/STs, BCs, minorities, women and youth and accordingly we are coming out with programmes for each of them," Reddy told them during an informal chat.