Telangana Assembly elections: BRS manifesto matches Congress guarantees

The ruling party of Telangana Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) released its poll manifesto on Sunday, promising to set up a committee to examine implementation of the old pension scheme for government employees, cooking gas cylinders to poor at Rs 400 each, and significantly increasing the allocations for its other welfare schemes in its bid to return to power for a third successive time in the country's youngest state.

Telangana's 31.73 million electorate will vote on November 30. In 2018, the BRS, then known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, won 88 of the 119 seats. However, it is facing a stiffer challenge from the Congress on this occasion. The Congress unveiled its 'six guarantees' for the state last month, similar to the ones the party has implemented in neighbouring Karnataka. In addition, the Congress promised 'Rythu Bharosa', committing financial assistance of Rs 15,000 for farmers and Rs 12,000 for farm labourers annually.

Releasing his party's manifesto in Hyderabad, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said his government had provided the country with a welfare and capital expenditure model, with the state's gross domestic product and per capita income improving significantly. He promised to increase the assistance to land-owning farmers under the Rythu Bandhu scheme from the current Rs 10,000 per acre annually to Rs 16,000 per acre over the next five years, with a hike of Rs 2,000 per acre by the next Kharif season.

The BRS has also promised a life insurance cover, "KCR Bima", of Rs 500,000 to 9.3 million poor families, estimated to cost the state exchequer Rs 4,000 crore annually, and a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000 to women from low-income families under the Saubhagya Lakshmi scheme, good quality rice supply through the public distribution system under the Telangana Annapurna scheme and continue to ensure procurement of paddy produced by the state's farmers. After Punjab, Telangana is second in procuring paddy, improving from 36.2 lakh tonnes in 2017-18 to 88.4 lakh tonnes in 2022-23.

Rao also announced an increase in the Aasara pension amount from Rs 2,106 a year to Rs 3,016 next year, and Rs 5,000 in phases in the next five years and a similar increase in the pension for persons with disabilities. The limit for the state government's AarogyaSri health scheme is to be increased. The CM also promised that his government would open one residential school in each of the 119 assembly constituencies for the upper castes.

The Congress guarantees include Rs 500 cooking gas cylinders, free travel for women in state transport buses, Rs 2,500 monthly allowance to women and free electricity up to 200 units to households.