The promise of the Telugu Desam president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to directly transfer an average of Rs1,500 to each poor family in the Andhra Pradesh state every month has evoked a strong reaction from Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Pointing out that leaving aside various other freebies promised by Naidu's TDP, including free rice and free color television sets, the cash transfer scheme alone will cost a whopping Rs36000 crore a year, the chief minister asked Naidu to explain from where he will bring this money. Pointing out that there were about two crore households with white ration cards in the state and they will all have to bring in to the fold of this promised scheme, the chief minister said at an average money transfer of Rs 1500 per month to each of them will cost the exchequer Rs 36000 crore a year. The chief minister told a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday that at present the entire expenditure of the state, both plan and non plan put together was between Rs80,000 to Rs90,000 crore. “If you take out the Rs50,000 crore expenditure towards salaries maintenance, scholarships and other similar schemes, it will leave hardrly Rs30,000 crore for other things. Does he mean to say that the state will not have any plan budget,” the chief minister asked. YSR said that such indiscriminate promises by Naidu smacks of his “unimaginable frustration” and desperation to come to power at any cost.
