YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was elected was the lifetime president of YSR Congress on Saturday. (File)
Warning that all freebie schemes being implemented by his government would be stalled if the YSR Congress lost power in the 2024 general election, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday exhorted his party rank and file to alert the people on this.
Delivering the closing speech at the two-day plenary of YSRC in Amaravati, the party chief alleged that the "yellow media" was already indicating that welfare schemes benefiting crores of people in the state would be stopped if his government fell.
"Vote for (TDP chief) Chandrababu Naidu will be a vote against the welfare schemes. People should play the role of Arjuna to defeat Chandrababu as he is unable to ride the bicycle (TDP election symbol) as it lost its wheels," the Chief Minister remarked.
He asked people to be wary of the 'Dushta Chatushtayama' (evil quartet) of Mr Naidu and three Telugu media houses.
"Chandrababu will come to you with all sorts of false promises. The evil quartet wants the welfare schemes, being implemented by our government, stalled," Mr Reddy alleged.
He called upon the party cadre to rebut the false propaganda of the opposition by visiting people at their doorstep and putting out the facts.
The YSRC president, who was elected on Saturday for a lifetime, also asked the party cadre to be battle-ready for 2024 and aim for a clean sweep of all 175 Assembly constituencies in the state.
He said his government had, in the last three years, handed out a sum of Rs 1.62 lakh crore under various freebie schemes.
The Chief Minister also spoke about the travails he endured in the past 13 years of his political journey and thanked the party workers and people for supporting him all through.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)