Naidu calls for support to root out corruption

Chintalapudi (West Godavari): Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday appealed to the people of the state to realise that if they voted for the YSRC, it would be nothing but supporting the BJP at the Centre which betrayed the state and its interests.

Addressing a huge public meeting organised in connection with “Grama Darsini” at Boyagudem in Chintalapudi mandal of the district, the Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi who professed to root out corruption and black money was in fact supporting YSRC whose chief is steeped in disproportionate assets cases. 

"Narendra Modi is doing exactly opposite what he had been saying all along. He said within one year, he would flush out black money and have the assets of those who earned them through dubious methods auctioned. 

But, he, in fact, was backing those who are neck-deep in corruption," Naidu said.

The Chief Minister, covering the entire gamut of his administration and the way the Centre had let down the state in going back on its commitments, said that he was fighting with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) only to ensure that the state got justice.

He appealed to the people to teach a fitting lesson to the BJP and see that it would not come to power in the centre by defeating all YSRC candidates in Lok Sabha elections since the YSRC was BJP's front. 

"We will ensue that we have a dispensation at the centre that would deliver special category status which the state needs very badly," the Chief Minister said.

Naidu underscored the need for the people to elect the TDP once again to power in the state to help him consolidate the gains that the state had logged thus far without anyone's support. 

"You remember what happened to AP when TDP lost power in 2004. The state was rent asunder by the subsequent Congress regimes which finally led to partition," he said and advised the people not to commit the same mistake since it was absolutely necessary that the TDP comes back to power to keep the momentum of growth that he had imparted to the state's economy.

"If there is a gap, putting the economy back on rails is not only difficult, but it also takes a lot of time. This is a testing time for all of us," Naidu added.

However, he exuded confidence that neither YSRC nor Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who had lately taken up cudgels against him, would be able to dent the Telugu Desam Party even slightly. 

The Chief Minister was critical of the Prime Minister for denying what was rightfully due to the state. 

"Though the Prime Minister had forsaken the state, I, by toiling hard, had built credibility for the governance in the state. 

If Amaravati bonds could net Rs 2,000 crore in a matter of one and half hours at BSE, it showed how much faith investors are reposing in us," Naidu said and praised the gesture of farmers in gifting 34,000 acres agriculture land under land pooling scheme to the government for construction of Amaravati though the centre had practically washed off its hands. 

"For Amaravati we need Rs 50,000 crore. We have already begun Rs 28,000 crore worth works. But the centre had sanctioned so far only Rs 1,500 crore," he said.

Naidu was equally unhappy over the way the centre was creating impediments in execution of Polavaram project. 

“The centre had not been showing any interest in taking the Polavaram project and Special Category Status issue forward. 

Even though centre has not yet approved the DPR for revised estimate for Polavaram project, we are going ahead with the construction with whatever limited resources we have," Naidu said.