VISAKHAPATNAM: BJP MLC Somu Veerraju challenged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to an open debate on the Central funds disbursed to the State government, their misuse and Polavaram project on any platform and on any date he wished.
Criticising the TDP supremo, he said that “cheating is in his blood and not with the BJP or its Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Naidu, ministers Kala Venkata Rao, Ganta Srinivasa Rao or any TDP leader for that matter do not have the right to question a committed leader like Modi”.
Addressing mediapersons on Wednesday, Veerraju fired, “From Polavaram project to the rural based individual sanitary latrines (ISL) scheme, the funds were misused by the TDP government.”
He said the Centre had declared Polavaram as a national project and even agreed to bear the total expenditure of its construction. Then why did Naidu snatch the project from the Centre and announce to construct the national project by the State government? he questioned.
For the record, the Polavaram project was actually taken up by the then Chief Ministers T Anjaiah and YS Rajasekhara Reddy and the latter even laid the foundation stone for the project. What did Naidu do in his nine-year rule as Chief Minister for the project? he questioned.
As per the AP Reorganisation Act, the project should have been constructed by 2014 in PPP mode. By wasting two valuable years, the Chief Minister started project works in 2016-end. Though the Centre allocated Rs 6,700 crore for Polavaram, the State government was able to spend only Rs 3,000 crore.
Now, how the TDP government can claim that the Centre was not cooperating with the State on Polavaram. Though Union minister Nitin Gadkari visited the Polavaram project twice, Naidu is peeved that the Prime Minister has not visited the project yet, Veerraju said. While the Central government estimated the spillway cost at Rs 1,100 crore, the State government increased it to Rs 1,400 crore.