Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana on Wednesday came down heavily on TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu for trying to “derail development,” and said it was high time for the Leader of the Opposition to embark on self-introspection after his party’s severe drubbing in the 2019 elections.
Ridiculing Mr. Naidu’s plan to undertake Praja Chaitanya Yatra in Vizianagaram district, Mr. Satyanarayana challenged him to disclose his contribution to the development of the backward north Andhra region when he was the Chief Minister for nine years before bifurcation of the State and five years post bifurcation.
Mr. Satyanarayana was speaking at a meeting organised at the party office here under the chairmanship of Anakapalle MLA Gudivada Amarnath to welcome the former chairman of Anakapalle Market Committee, M. Kishore, and others into the YSRCP.
Stating that Mr. Naidu was trying to dupe the people by spreading canards against the YSRCP government despite the success of schemes launched under the Navaratnalu programme, Mr. Satyanarayana said the Leader of the Opposition should have learnt a lesson after the humiliating performance of the TDP in the elections. “Instead, Mr. Naidu is trying to politicise everything to gain cheap mileage,” the Minister alleged.
He denied undertaking any exercise for distribution of house sites under land pooling in Vizianagaram district.
Three capitals
Justifying the formation of three capitals to ensure balanced development of all the regions, he said that Mr. Naidu should disclose who wanted to oppose the location of Visakhapatnam as Executive capital.
“The people here are very happy as Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to make Visakhapatnam compete with developed cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. What’s wrong in it?” he asked.
He also urged people to grill Mr. Naidu on his party’s stand to oppose formation of three capitals.
“People should question Mr. Naidu as to why he does not want development of the backward areas,” he stated.
Mr. Satyanarayana said the government had already prepared an action plan to develop all the regions, and hastened to add that they were firm in implementing it.
He also criticised Mr. Naidu for opposing land pooling in Visakhapatnam, and alleged that the TDP president was also trying to stall distribution of house sites in Amaravati and other areas.
