With another two years left for the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has begun efforts to consolidate the party vote bank at the grassroots level.
Apparently realising that majority of his party MLAs are fast losing support in the people, the chief minister has decided to focus on various developmental works at the constituency-level through the MLAs, so that they could restore their support base in the electorate.
As part of the strategy, the Jagan government has announced in its 2022-23 annual budget a Special Development Package Fund (SDPF) to implement socio-economic development programmes at constituency level. An amount of Rs 350 crore has been allocated for the SDPF in the budget.
Under this SDPF, each member of the state legislative assembly would have an amount of Rs 2 crore at his or her disposal, so that they could prioritise the developmental works in their respective constituencies in the coming year.
“This is to maximise welfare in line with local needs and preferences; take corrective measures to solve problems identified by citizens and elected representatives and to ensure that development spreads evenly throughout the state,” state finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy announced in his budget speech in the assembly.
Though the exact guidelines of the scheme are yet to be declared, it appears to be similar to the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) of the Central government under which each MP would be entitled to take up works worth Rs 5 crore in his or her constituency every year.
Similarly, there was already a Constituency Development Fund in the state under which the MLAs were taking up developmental works worth Rs 50 lakh in their constituency.
It was later enhanced to Rs 1 crore. But the scheme has been done away with later, on the complaints that the MLAs are misusing their funds.
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