BJP to field Union ministers to counter Andhra Pradesh's TDP ‘propaganda’
VIJAYAWADA: More Union ministers are likely to make whirlwind tours to the State in the next couple of months with a specific job to counter the alleged false propaganda of the TDP government that the Centre is not extending any assistance to the State. The Union ministers, it is learnt, will also make claims to all the credit due to the Centre.
Two days after Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari reviewed the progress of Polavaram after visiting the project site, his cabinet colleague and Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda will be visiting the State.
Besides reviewing the ongoing works at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) being established in Mangalagiri, Nadda will also take stock of the implementation of various Centrally-sponsored schemes in the State. “The Union minister will spend about two hours at the AIIMS project site reviewing its progress. He will later go to Guntur to meet BJP workers and participate in other events,” BJP State leaders said.
“We are trying to bring as many Union ministers as possible to visit the projects sanctioned to the State by the Centre under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, and otherwise. This will help us effectively expose the TDP, which has been claiming that the bifurcation promises were not fulfilled,” a senior party leader told TNIE on condition on anonymity.
When asked who all will visit the State, the leader said, “We will request Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and others to visit the State.” Last month, the BJP had planned to invite BJP president Amit Shah to participate in the foundation-laying ceremony of the steel plant in Kadapa if the Centre gives nod to the project. However, with the ongoing row over the feasibility of the steel plant, the project has been put on hold. However, the BJP leaders averred that the plan is very much on, and that a positive decision with regard to the steel plant would be announced soon.
“Once the Ministry of Steel gets all the necessary information from the State, a positive decision would be announced in a month. Amit Shah, depending on his schedule, could also visit AP,” another leader explained.
Political angle
The successive visits by Union ministers gain political significance as the TDP has been targeting the BJP alleging poor support to AP. The BJP has decided to bring as many Union ministers as possible to counter TDP’s ‘false propaganda’ against Centre