Telangana: How Congress fooled the public, once again, in the name of 6 guarantees they gave during assembly elections

The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

In the run-up to the Assembly elections of Telangana, the Congress announced 6 guarantees for the people of Telangana. As elections started nearing, Revanth Reddy repeatedly promised that he will implement ALL guarantees within 100 days of coming to power. The conviction in his tone was believed by the people of Telangana and they voted the Congress to power.

First of all, what are these 6 guarantees? Below is a variant of the info-graphic that Congress used in all newspaper ads and all their official handles.

It is a very well-designed info-graphic that gives you the first impression that there are actually only 6 guarantees in the promise. A second look and you will realise how the Congress scammed you even with something as simple as a number! A closer perusal of the document shows that the actual guarantees being promised are 13 in number, and not 6! Almost every “Guarantee” has sub-guarantees also included in them.

·         Guarantee # 1 is titled Mahalakshmi, and has a total of 3 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 2 is titled Rythu Bharosa, and has a total of 3 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 3 is titled Yuva Vikasam, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 4 is titled Indiramma Indlu, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

·         Guarantee # 5 is titled Gruha Jyothi and is the only guarantee with no sub-guarantees!

·         Guarantee # 6 is titled Cheyutha, and has a total of 2 sub-guarantees.

It is now very clear that Revanth Reddy wanted to get away with implementing any 6 out of these 13 Guarantees within 100 days and claim that he kept his promise. I must say, it was a very innovative way of doing a scam! Now, let’s take a look if he actually executed this intelligent scam. The Congress government completed 100 days on March 17^th, 2024. The election code kicked in on March 16^th, 2024. In the above info-graphic:

• Guarantee (1) has 3 sub-guarantees.
• The 2500/- per month to every woman scheme, has NOT been started at all.
• Oher 2 Sub-Guarantees are being implemented.
• Guarantees number (2) and (3) have NOT even started.
• Guarantee (4) has 2-sub guarantees.
• The “250 sq.yards plot for all movement fighters” has NOT been initiated at all.
• The “House site and 5 lakh for people not having own house” is only PARTIALLY started now (announced only in the 1^st week of March for a limited set of people)
• Guarantee (5) has been announced and is being implemented from March 1^st.
• Guarantee (6) has 2 sub-guarantees.
• The “4000 rupees monthly pension” has NOT been started at all.
• The increase in health insurance was perhaps the easiest one to implement and is under implementation now

So, that essentially means that only 4 out of the promised 13 guarantees (in 100 days) are currently fully being implemented. If you want to give credit for an additionally partially implemented promise, then Congress is implementing only 4.25 out of the promised 13 guarantees! Let’s for a moment not even delve into this much detail and just go by the slogan “6 Guarantees” that were promised in 100 days. Even amongst those, only 4 are being implemented which is a clear breaking of the vehement promise Revanth Reddy gave before the elections.

Outside of these 6 Guarantees, Revanth Reddy also promised a loan waiver program for the farmers, again within 100 days. Caught openly with this lie, Revanth Reddy now promised a new date for only this promise – August 15^th!

Caught in a quagmire over his unkept promise, Revanth Reddy is using a new strategy. He is openly threatening people that if they don’t vote for the Congress party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, then it will be very difficult for him to provide these “guarantees”. It is a really strange argument but it is also not surprising because this has been the Congress DNA – to threaten voters with dire consequence for trusting them in the first place. The voters trusted Revanth Reddy when he said he will fulfil ALL guarantees within 100 days. Voters are obviously angry that he did NOT keep his promise. Instead of apologising to them, Revanth is threatening them that if they don’t vote for Congress, they will not get the other guarantees too!

Revanth Reddy has been constantly claiming that the Lok Sabha election is a referendum on his 4-month rule. The media also went gaga over him and his working style. Revanth Reddy is also going national, with his appearances on various channels, and is eloquently explaining Rahul Gandhi’s divisive agenda in these interviews! The hard reality is that the Congress has yet again cheated people with false promises and is now threatening the very same people with dire consequence. Afterall, old habits die hard!