Woman says pension given by 'Babu'; YSRC leaders embarrassed

MANGALAGIRI: Three prominent leaders of the ruling YSRCP, all pursuing the same objective in the 2024 elections, came together here on Thursday to oversee the distribution of state government pensions to the old. Be it part of a photo-op plan or a diktat from the party leadership, the three leaders, all contending for the same party ticket for Mangalagiri in the next Assembly elections, made for a rare sight.

Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, the sitting MLA of the YSRCP from Mangalagiri; Murugudu Hanumantha Rao, a prominent BC leader from the weaver's community here and Ganji Chiranjeevi, another key leader from the same community who recently switched sides to the YSRCP from the TDP, are these key functionaries. On Thursday, the three not only came together but also donned the avatar of 'volunteers'.

Despite the stiff competition among them, the three however managed to put up a public show of unity and solidarity to promote Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy's flagship schemes locally. The leaders went door-to-door to oversee the pension amount disbursement and even interacted with the beneficiaries. They were seen specifically reminding old people as to who is providing the pension benefit to them. While the unlikely coming-together raised many an eyebrow, making it the talk of the town here, the joy for the YSRCP cadre did not last too long. In fact, it turned out to be short-lived when one of the pension beneficiaries, an old woman, came up with this shocker.

After a volunteer handed over the pouch containing the monthly pension money to her, she was asked by Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy if she knew who it was sent to her. To that, the unassuming woman replied that it was Babu, shocking the YSRCP leaders out of their wits. Quickly recovering, Ramakrishna Reddy corrected her saying that it was 'Jagananna who sent her the pension amount.'

While the incident caused momentary embarrassment for the ruling party, people were overheard commenting that the TDP men would be hearteningly surprised by the turn of events here. "Don't be shocked if a few TDP leaders from Guntur showcase this before the media and brag about how Naidu is still the people's most preferred choice. They can even go to the lengths of claiming that this incident was proof that the TDP chief was coming back to power next time," they were heard saying.