Hyderabad: Amid a popular trend of enlisting film stars, celebrities, and influencers as star campaigners for political parties, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh has chosen a different path.
YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has decided to make the common people of Andhra Pradesh his ‘Star Campaigners’ in the upcoming elections.
The YSRCP has submitted a list of 12 people (commoners) to the Election Commission, designating them as the party's official ‘Star Campaigners' for the upcoming polls.
The party has also said that these 12 will represent each and every of the approximate 5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh. These individuals, hailing from humble backgrounds, will campaign for the party on ground and help propagate Jagan ’s message till the last mile, said YSRCP sources.
Even before the launch of the ‘Siddham’ campaign, Jagan had said, “My true star campaigners are the people of Andhra Pradesh, and I don’t want anyone else,”
Out of the 12 YSRCP star campaigners, four are homemakers, two are farmers, one is an auto driver, one a tailor, and four are former government volunteers.
One of the star campaigners is Pandalaneni Sivaprasad from Avanigadda Constituency of Krishna District. Hailing from a simple family of farmers, Sivaprasad is a father of two sons.
Recently, his eldest son, Krishna Kishore secured admission for a Masters programme in Political Affairs at Columbia University in the United States Of America.
However, the exorbitant course fee of Rs 1,36,00,000 seemed unattainable. With the help of YSRCP’s foreign education welfare scheme (Jagananna Videshi Deevena), Sivaprasad’s son applied and received the required funds. For someone who could not afford even a lakh, received Rs 50 lakh for two semesters from the YSRCP Government, and today he is studying in the third semester at Columbia University.
Not just that, Sivaprasad's family has benefited from various other schemes under the Jagan Government including financial assistance to farmers (Rhythu Bharosa). Sivaprasad decided to be Jagan’s star campaigner as he strongly believes that he should come back to power as he his government is a pro-poor government.
Another campaigner Anantha Lakshmi comes from Rajahmundry City Constituency of East Godavari District. In her village through Jagananna Chedodu, a neighbour set up a clothing shop that supports their family. She highlighted the case of Dasari Mahalakshmi, a woman who received Rs 2 lakh insurance upon her husband's death, along with Pension Kanuka and Amma Vodi schemes.
The Navaratnalu schemes implemented by the YSRCP government transformed them from a family struggling to make their ends meet, to a family with a stable income. Anantha Lakshmi supports Jagan's mission to uplift the poor and has decided to work as a star campaigner for him with all vigour and enthusiasm.
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