HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Lokesh on Sunday succeeded in convincing 780 Non-resident Telugus to adopt 1,000 villages in the State to develop them as ‘smart villages’.
The young politico, who is on a 10-day visit to the US to promote the State government’s ‘Smart AP- Smart Villages/Wards’ programme, interacted with NRIs at New Jersey and requested them to adopt at least one village each.
According to TDP leader LVSRK Prasad, Lokesh told the NRIs that the Chief Minister wants to develop all villages in the State as smart villages with the involvement of people in order to make AP the top State in the country.
Naidu’s son made a presentation on the ‘Smart AP- Smart Villages/Wards’ programme in his bid to convince more Non-resident Telugus to adopt villages.
“Lokesh said Chief Minister Naidu has a clear and long vision that AP should be among the top 3 states in India by 2022, top state by 2029 and the best state in Southeast Asia by 2050,” LVSRK Prasad said. After Lokesh’s presentation, 780 NRIs came forward to adopt villages, he added.
“Inspired by the words of Lokesh, more individuals are expressing interest to adopt one village each. In New Jersey alone, NRIs have come forward to adopt as many as 1000 villages in AP,” Brahmaji Veliveti said.
Mohan Nannappaneni, president of TANA, said TANA Foundation had spent nearly `300 crore over the last 35 years in serving the motherland. He also said TANA would adopt 100 villages in AP.