Alleging that the Chandrababu Naidu government pushed the State into a debt trap with its liability shooting from ₹86,000 lakh crore to ₹2.14 lakh crore, BJP MLC P.V.N. Madhav has demanded a probe into its “financial profligacy.”
To pay the last instalment of loan waiver, the TDP government mortgaged the lands given by the farmers for the capital with Andhra Bank and borrowed ₹6,000 crore, Mr. Madhav said, and wondered how the lands given free of cost could be mortgaged.
Fiber grid project
Addressing the media here, Mr. Madhav said the ₹4,000-crore fiber grid project, which promised Internet, telephone and cable TV connection for ₹149, had attracted worldwide attention, and even the Assam Chief Minister evinced interest in it.
“But the project is now in a mess with the cable operators stuck in the tangle and it should also be probed,” he said.
Anna canteens were constructed just six months before the elections at a cost of ₹7,500 per sft, he alleged.
Whether it was Partnership Summit or TDP’s ‘deekshas’ against the Modi government, the Naidu government had spent money recklessly, he alleged.
As a result, bills worth ₹30,000 crore, which include those pertaining to the Polavaram project and other works, remained pending for want of release of matching grants, Mr. Madhav said.
Congratulating YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for registering a landslide victory, Mr. Madhav said he should tread cautiously, taking the advice of financial experts for implementing his ‘Navaratnalu’ promises estimated to cost ₹2 lakh crore.
The new government should accept the special package being given in lieu of Special Category Status as ₹17,000 crore was readily available.
The BJP would act as an Opposition in the State and try to improve its presence, he said, and cited as examples West Bengal, Odisha and Kerala, where it spread its base.
BJP sympathisers voted for the YSRCP, equating it as voting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just as they voted for the TDP in 2014, Mr. Madhav observed.
Railway zone
On its part, he said the BJP would try to allay the apprehensions over not including the Waltair Division in the new railway zone and take it up with the Centre.
Other promises made in the A.P. Reorganisation Act, including the setting up of Kadapa steel plant, which would strengthen RINL in Visakhapatnam, the port at Dugarajapatnam, and funds for completion of buildings for various Central institutes would be pursued, he added.
BJP city president M. Nagendra said various pro-poor schemes of the party won Mr. Modi a massive mandate. The disinformation campaign launched against the party cost it dearly, he said. Party general secretary Ravindra Reddy was present.
