REVANTH REDDY REVS AHEAD

Change and continuity were the two concerns the Congress had in Telangana as Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy took charge on December 7. The new CM faces three principal challenges—implementing the party’s pre-poll promises, getting the state back on the fast track economically and ensuring the party wins at least half of the state’s 17 Lok Sabha seats in the general election in May.

- Amarnath K. Menon

For any chief minister, this can be a daunting exercise. But Revanth, despite his lack of administrative experience, has started well. The Lok Sabha polls will be his first major test. Ministers have already been designated as party coordinators in the various constituencies. The Revanth administration plans to try and fulfil the pre-poll promises (the Six Guarantees or ‘6G’), and hope it becomes a vote ‘influencer’. The entire administration was involved in the Praja Palana (People Friendly Governance) initiative from December 28 to January 6, covering 12,769 gram panchayats and 3,623 municipal wards and collecting a staggering 12.6 million applications from people. Of these, around 10.6 million were seeking the 6G benefits under various welfare heads while the remaining 2 million were seeking food security cards and other doles.

Through Praja Palana, the government hopes to take ‘doorstep governance’ a step further while also creating a comprehensive database of people’s needs and grievances. The data from the applications will be available by January-end. The arduous task of vetting and weeding out ineligible applicants starts on February 8.