Former A.P. CM Chandrababu Naidu supports caste-based census 

TDP chief Naidu calls for caste-based Census to aid poverty alleviation; outlines 6 election promises for Andhra Pradesh.

Joining the chorus for a caste-based census, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said that for an effective poverty alleviation strategy, it is essential to have statistics that reflect the correct economic situation of all communities.  

“There are poor people who haven’t benefitted from government policies in each section, whether Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and even the forward caste groups. We need a comprehensive caste census and we must have a strategy based on the report on how to target these groups in particular,” Mr. Naidu said during a media interaction in Delhi. 

The demand for caste-based census is likely to occupy the centre-stage in the Opposition’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is the only point of convergence between the TDP and the Opposition. The TDP continues to distance itself from its 2019 stance, when Mr. Naidu had tried to bring the Opposition together. 

For now, he is concentrating on the contest with YSR Congress. Mr. Naidu said that the TDP will go into the Assembly elections with the call to ‘Save Andhra’. 

“Andhra Pradesh is going through an unprecedented situation. The taxation is at an all-time high, the State finances are in a precarious state, and cases are lodged against anyone who raises a question against the government. This is the first time in the 45 years that I have been in politics that so many cases have been filed against me.  I will have to file an RTI (Right to Information query) myself for compiling the number of cases filed against me, for the election affidavit,” he said. 

In the previous Assembly elections held in April 2019, the TDP could win only 23 seats against its political rival YSR Congress’ 151-seat tally. The difference of vote share between the two sides was nearly 10%.

Mr. Naidu reached Delhi on Monday to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, urging the Election Commission to ensure that no eligible voter was left out of the electoral roll in Andhra Pradesh.