Hyderabad: The state Congress political affairs committee will meet on August 15 to take a final decision on the schedule of polls to the local bodies, in all probability tilting towards holding the elections at the earliest.The BJP-led Centre is in no mood to approve the ordinance reserving 42 per cent seats for the Backward Classes community, and the state has been losing hundreds of crores of rupees assistance through Central schemes in the absence of elected local bodies. Taking advantage of the pro-BC stand as reflected in the unprecedented caste survey and the attention the exercise grabbed at the national level, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, according to sources close to him, is all set to implement the quota for the community within the party while allotting tickets. Confusion in the principal opposition BRS stemming from the severe infighting and BJP’s failure to capitalise on its Lok Sabha poll success and making inroads, besides the natural advantage of being the ruling party, will add to the Congress advantage. Ministers were of the firm view that the government had been riding on a positive wave set off recently due to multiple factors including distribution of fine rice variety to the poor, hassle-free disbursement of farm assistance under Rythu Bharosa, launch of Indiramma houses and distribution of new ration cards. “There is a positive mood all over because of successful roll-out of schemes and there are clear indications of a good monsoon. No time is better than now,” said a senior minister, who also clarified that the Chief Minister had not spoken his mind clearly on the timing of the polls. Switching over to fine rice variety from the coarse grain distributed through the PDS earlier was said to have significantly contributed to the image changeover of the Congress government that had suffered a bout of negativity a few months ago. Significantly, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had admitted that the government had acquired a negative image for a time but that phase was over now. “The number of beneficiaries of fine variety rice has increased from 2.84 crore to 3.17 crore due to the issue of new ration cards to 5.61 lakh families. Supply chain efficiency has helped in achieving 94.62 per cent delivery and issue of ration for three months at one go built trust among the poor. We achieved high quality both in terms of quality and quantity,” civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy told Deccan Chronicle. The government has also succeeded in disbursing almost Rs.8,500 crore farm assistance under Rythu Bharosa to farmers owning up to 15 acres in a record eight days, said agriculture minister T. Nageswara Rao drawing comparisons with the previous BRS government which took an average of 100 days ever since the scheme was launched. The Congress government has learnt a lesson from its own fumbling of the distribution of farm assistance in the last fiscal. The government has also received feedback that smooth implementation of other flagship programmes like subsidised gas cylinders, free bus travel and massive financial assistance for self-help groups have further consolidated Revanth Reddy’s image among the women electorate.
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