Hyderabad: With Andhra Pradesh heading for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly, political parties are resorting to competitive populism, doling out a string of promises in their bid to have a decisive edge over rivals at the hustings.

In a State that takes pride in showcasing its reforms programme, the politics of populism has come back with a bang on the poll-eve as reforms-savvy Telugu Desam Party (TDP) made a complete turn-around and shifted to welfare mode, unveiling a series of populist schemes virtually promising all things to all people.

While TDP is banking on its "Koti Varaalu" (Boons to benefit one crore people) programme targeting farmers, weaker sections, rural youth, women self-help groups and local bodies, the main opposition Congress, facing a do-or-die electoral battle, has made "free power to poor farmers" its main poll plank.

The TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a quintessential new generation politician with a penchant for reforms, is seeking to reverse a pro-urban image that has come to characterise his Government and position himself as a follower of "reforms with a human face" line.

With Telangana statehood issue emerging as a poll issue, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), facing Assembly elections for the first time, has promised to distribute three acres of land to each dalit family, increase reservations for SCs (Schedule Castes) and STs (Scheduled Tribes) and revive talks with naxalite groups in the event of formation of Telangana State.