The State's GO to set up committees from the mandal level to identify eligible candidates for pensions was only to cut the number of pensioners, YSRCP alleged.
Demanding withdrawal of the GO to authorize committees to screen pensioners in the State, the YSR Congress said that the move had a hidden agenda laden with political motives and sans transparency which would lead to discrimination.
"Pensioners are bereft of any other source of income, and the State issuing a GO to set up committees from the mandal level to identify the eligible candidates is only to cut down the number of existing pensioners. Our Party objects to the GO and demands its immediate withdrawal," Party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma told reporters on Thursday.
"We have no objection to the government weeding out bogus pension claims, but the exercise should be carried out methodically and should abide by norms of transparent governance. The GO is totally against any proven methodology as the manner in which the members of the committee have been chosen shows that it will be filled with TDP sympathizers or cadre," she said.
The mammoth task of reviewing the existing list of pensioners in two days was not possible, Padma opined, and said that the deadline set seemed only to benefit the TDP cadre and sympathizers. The Chief Minister was supposed to govern the entire State as one unit and look beyond party affiliations as YSR had shown while implementing welfare schemes, she stated.
"Chandrababu Naidu is trying to emulate YSR, whether through his padayatra or through his welfare schemes, but when it comes to implementation, his real intentions are coming out in the open. We are not opposed to weeding out bogus claims, but have doubts over the manner in which it is being carried out as per the GO," she said.
She demanded to know why the pending claims of nearly 15 lakh applicants were not being considered, as Chandrababu Naidu had time and again told people during his electioneering that they would get pensions once the TDP came to power.
After assuming power, forget giving new pensions, the government was actually trying to slash the existing ones through arbitrary means, she alleged.
For other welfare schemes as well, there are too many riders which were shrinking the numbers of the beneficiaries, which showed the double standards of the Chief Minister, she said.
"The tall claim of Chandrababu Naidu that he has the experience is being shown as flase in his going back on his election promises and finding ways to dilute various welfare schemes. The proposed Pension Mela on October 2 will see many eligible heads being rolled out of the pension list, which is why we are opposing the GO and demanding its immediate withdrawal," she said. (INN)