Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that his recent differences with the Centre were because he wanted “justice” for the newly formed State. He said this during a session at The Huddle moderated by Sreenivasan Jain, Managing Editor, NDTV.
“Earlier, as the bifurcation was becoming a reality, I asked for justice for both States, but after three years with the NDA at the Centre, I am asking for justice for my State,” he said. “The bifurcation was done without consulting me, behind closed doors in Parliament with the live broadcast suspended. After protests in the Rajya Sabha, the issue of special status and bridging the revenue deficit were addressed in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but we are still waiting for the Act to be implemented,” Mr. Naidu said.
“Ours is an agrarian State, without a big urban centre, and we fall short by ₹30,000 to the average per capita income in the rest of the country, we are demanding what should be given to us.”
NDA partnership
On being pressed by Mr. Jain about whether or not his exit from the NDA was imminent, Mr. Naidu pointed to Ashok Gajapathy Raju in the audience, saying, “The Civil Aviation Minister is here. Do you have any doubts? You may be looking for a sensational headline, but I am a man of restraint,” he said.
He did say, however, that the people of Andhra Pradesh had not given a single seat to the “125-year-old Congress party” because of bifurcation and that if “justice” was not done, “it would cause more pain to wounded soldiers”.
Mr. Naidu also made a strong pitch for investment in the new State of Andhra Pradesh and the construction of the State’s new capital, Amaravati, which he said would be “not just world class, but best in the world, competing with London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai”.
He also said that the land for the project was a unique land pooling arrangement with farmers of the area and it was a historic event that 33,000 acres of land could be pooled in this way.
He pointed to his track record in the past as Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, the development of the city of Hyderabad as a brownfield project, the development of Cyberabad for IT companies, the construction of the Shamsabad airport, and said that people would still put their trust in him.
Asked by N. Ram, Chairman of The Hindu Group, if he anticipated the rise of a challenger in Andhra Pradesh as Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy had emerged in the past, Mr. Naidu said that he expected at least four or five terms more.
“People look at track records now and voters as stakeholders want ease of living and development, which is my aim,” he said.
To another question, he denied that he was aspiring for a national role or making a bid to be Prime Minister. “I am the Chief Minister of a State with only 25 MPs, a drop in the ocean compared to the 550 MPs in the Lok Sabha. I have no aspirations to be Prime Minister,” he said.
Creative part
An interesting point was made when Mr Naidu was asked why he took Baahubali director S. Rajamouli on board as consultant for the new capital of Amaravati. “The director has creativity, and that can be a guide to the consultant architect,” he said.
Mr. Naidu declared that as Chief Minister, he was always ready to pitch to attract business to the State, and revealed that his government had decided to allot 150 acres of land for a telephone manufacturing unit in Tirupati for the Mukesh Ambani group and that Mr. Ambani had promised to help set up a development centre for the start-up ecosystem.
“Technology is the future, I have seen the third industrial revolution and we are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. It is a very inspiring time, and we must convert crisis into opportunity,” he said.
