Terming the report of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on the ‘Strategy for balanced and inclusive growth of Andhra Pradesh’ a rubbish, former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu has said it is an exercise to suit the interests of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
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“The BCG has no credibility. As a consultant, it merely delivered what it’s client (A.P. Government) required,” he observed on Saturday while claiming that the panel headed by the then Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana was mandated to draw up plans on the basis of the Sivaramakrishnan Committee recommendations. The same were followed by the TDP government.
Addressing the media at the TDP office near Mangalagiri, Mr. Naidu said Hyderabad was developed into a mega city along with Cyberabad and nine municipalities. On the similar lines, the TDP government had planned to transform the erstwhile Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri into a city that would be the State’s growth engine.“With the pooling of 33,000 acres, the problem of land was solved and with it all hurdles in the path of development of Amaravati have gone.”
The G.N. Rao Committee followed what the Principal Advisor to Chief Minister, Ajeya Kallam, directed to it, the TDP chief alleged. He said the TDP government worked hard for the development of all districts, including Visakhapatnam, which grew into a city of global standards during its (TDP) regime. “Balanced development was therefore a concept not unknown to the TDP.” Mr. Naidu objected to the comparison drawn between the countries which have multiple capitals and A.P. which has no capital city at all since bifurcation. He further said the government was obliged to honour the agreements entered with farmers and it also owed an explanation on the terms of reference given to the BCG and other details thereof.
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He reiterated that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had gone back from his original stand on Amaravati that Vijayawada - Guntur region was the ideal location for development of the capital city.
‘Wrong belief’
The Chief Minister was apparently under the wrong belief that decentralisation of administration would facilitate development of all regions. He would pay a heavy price for his mistake and the TDP would stand by the aggrieved farmers and the five crore people of A.P. whose future was obviously linked to the capital.