VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday wished former prime minister AB Vajpayee on the latter’s 92nd birthday and announced that the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) coming up at Mangalagiri would be named after him. Describing Vajpayee as a statesman the entire country is proud of, the Chief Minister said the former premier was a visionary and an able administrator. Recalling the various development and welfare activities taken up during the regime of Vajpayee, he said Cyberabad was developed during the same time in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh.
“Today, it is a vital part of the global IT industry. Vajpayee government was also responsible for the Golden Quadrilateral that has linked the entire country with a road network. As a mark of respect, I recommended that the AIIMS coming up at Mangalagiri be named AB Vajpayee AIIMS,” he said.
Participating in a programme organised in Vijayawada on Sunday as part of the Good Governance Day, Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu too described the Vajpayee-led NDA government’s tenure as a golden era. “It was he (Vajpayee), who had put the nation on the road to development by initiating changes in every field,” he said. The Golden Quadrilateral, air connectivity, telecommunications and Grameen Sadak Yojana projects undertaken by the Vajpayee government were major milestones in the country’s development, the minister pointed out.
Citing an example of Vajpayee’s unwavering resolve and dedication to the country’s development in every field, Venkaiah Naidu said when the US was objecting to India’s nuclear programme after the Pokharan test, the soft-spoken Vajpayee had simply replied that the US was leading the world in nuclear programme and as such, should also lead in denuclearisation. Venkaiah Naidu traced the genesis of several of the present NDA government’s welfare and development programme to the Vajpayee regime.