KAKINADA: Taking a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi for dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "shahenshah" (emperor), Union minister Ravishankar Prasad today said a "chaiwala" is "more committed" to uplift of poor than "one family-ruled" Congress.
"Being a 'chaiwala', the Prime Minister is committed to the uplift of poor sections unlike the Congress which stood only for a family rule. BJP is for the people and for upholding the dignity of people by improving their living standards," the IT and Communication Minister told reporters here.
Prasad was here to participate in 'Vikas Parv' function organised by the BJP to mark completion of two years in office of the Modi government.
On the occasion, he announced the sixth electronic manufacturing cluster for Kakinada as a special case to boost economic growth and employment potential.
Andhra Pradesh government had already proposed setting up of 20 electronic manufacturing clusters and 200 industries in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Guntur, Nellore, Chittoor, Anantapur and Tirupati, besides a mega electronic hub in Visakhapatnam and a hardware park at Kakinada.
"Andhra Pradesh is poised for speedy growth in different sectors with huge support of Central government for setting up prestigious central institutions such as IITs and also developing ports under the 'Sagarmala' project," Prasad said.
The BJP leader said the communication sector is also heading for a speedy growth with the installation of new generation telephone exchanges and towers, mostly in the Naxal-infested areas.
"In the coming years, a lot of employment would be created in IT sector with the cooperation of Andhra government.
"Of the total 2200 BPOs proposed, 178 would come up in Andhra Pradesh alone. 650 postal mobile ATMs would come up in AP, taking the banking near to people. The postmen would carry mobile ATMs for the benefit of villagers," he said.
However, Prasad parried a question on granting of the special status to Andhra Pradesh.
"Centre is assisting AP with huge funding as per the recommendations made in the 14th Finance Commission,. AP is poised for accelerated all-round growth in the next two-three years," the Minister said.