The bustling landscape of Vijayawada West Assembly constituency is witnessing hectic canvassing by a seasoned politician contending for the MLA seat this time.
Former Rajya Sabha member and former Central Minister Yalamanchili Satyanarayana (Sujana) Chowdary is the BJP candidate backed by the TDP-JSP-BJP (NDA) alliance for the Vijayawada West segment. He is facing direct elections for the first time and brings with him a wealth of experience and innovative governance dynamics.
Speaking to The Hindu during a break from campaigning, Mr. Chowdary says the initial 15 days, he was immersed in studying the issues plaguing the 22 divisions of the constituency. “I am compiling a comprehensive list of these problems and plausible remedies. There’s a lot of work to be done here,” he says, adding that the underground drainage system is in shambles, the drinking water supply is unreliable, the power lines are haphazardly laid, and the road network is in bad shape. “There is an urgent need for infrastructure revitalisation,” he emphasises.
Pointing to the large population of the constituency that lives on hillocks, he talks about the need to improve amenities for them.
Mr. Chowdary refuses to take the label of ‘non-local’ given to him by his political opponents in the fray. “I am a native of Kanchikacharla, 25 km from here and both my maternal and paternal ancestors have vast stretches of farmlands in Krishna district. My roots are here,” he asserts.
Mr. Chowdary’s desire to contest from Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat did not material, as the party leadership decided to field him from the West Assembly constituency. “Unlike the practice of choosing a place based on caste equations, I am happy to be contesting from the West segment, which is a mix of all castes and creeds,” he says.
For effective governance, he says focus would be on transparency, accountability and accessibility. “I plan to establish 22 offices in each of the divisions, leveraging technology for swift grievance-redressal.” Direct communication channels between people and their elected representatives would make a world of difference, he explains and opines that it is time to part with the conventional pyramid structure of hierarchy and embrace the flat organisational structure, as it allows more fluid communication flow and faster decision-making.
When pointed to the fact that the West segment has a large population of Muslim minorities, Mr. Chowdary exudes confidence that he would address their concerns by “dispelling the misconception that BJP is anti-Muslim”.
The former Minister has been accused of resorting to financial bungling in the past. “They are smear campaigns started by my political opponents and spoken about by ill-informed people. They don’t perturb me and I have been steadfast in my commitment to serving people and generating jobs,” he asserts.
Capital issue
Mr. Chowdary says, “neither” when asked who should be held more responsible for the ‘capital woes’ in the State—the Congress for carrying out the bifurcation in an unscientific way, or the BJP, which came to power at the Centre but denied Andhra Pradesh its share of funds and the promised projects. “Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has derailed the capital project,” he insists, claiming “I had taken the lead in stopping Mr. Jagan from shifting the capital from Amaravati for which “I was charged with acquiring 600 acres of land in the capital region. I challenged Minister Botsa Satyanarayana and a few others to prove if I own even an inch of land in the capital region,” he recalls. Amaravati project was designed to act as a growth engine, he says, adding, “but Mr. Jagan completely destroyed it.”
‘YSRCP misrule’
The BJP candidate says YSR Congress Party’s “misrule” destroyed the vitals of the State. “Whatever it did was in violation of the rule book,” he alleged. Asked why the Centre did not check on it, the aspiring legislator attributed it to the cooperative federalism enshrined in the Indian Constitution. “Ours is a cooperative federal system, which necessitates synergy between the Centre and the States for effective governance,” he says, adding: “The Centre can’t afford to intervene repeatedly in the State government affairs.”
