VIJAYAWADA: Government Chief Whip Gadikota Srikanth Reddy countered the remarks made by opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s governance and said the latter has been indulging in diversion politics as the Chief Minister’s Delhi tour was successful.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the MLA said Jagan Mohan Reddy’s visit to Delhi was part of the development agenda, and he discussed various key issues related to the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. “As the tour has been successful, the opposition leader, out of jealousy, is back on the spree to divert people with his political dramas and baseless allegations in an attempt to defame the state,’’ Srikanth Reddy alleged.
He stated that Chandrababu Naidu did nothing for the state during his five-year rule and indeed wasted hundreds of crores of rupees to create hype for meagre investments, plundered public wealth, neglected the Polavaram project and even turned Amaravati as ‘Bramaravati’ looting the valuable lands.
“Everything in the state was fraudulent during the TDP regime. Naidu owes an answer on what `10,000 crore was spent on Amaravati, as there are no infrastructure facilities or permanent buildings there,’’ he said.
Srikanth Reddy said Chandrababu Naidu could have developed Visakhapatnam as a world-class capital with half the expenditure and, with the rest, he could have built permanent buildings like the High Court, Assembly and the staff quarters.
“Surprisingly, he spent Rs 10,000 crore without completing even one building. Even the house he stays in lacks drainage system and pumps the wastewater into the river,’’ he said and added Naidu, who boasts himself as a visionary leader, failed miserably to develop Rayalaseema and North Andhra regions because he is least concerned about those regions.
On investments, he said over Rs 40,000 crore worth investments have come to AP in the last 30 months despite the state reeling under Covid. “While there were no welfare schemes for Chandrababu Naidu to own in his five-year rule, Jagan prioritised welfare and spent Rs 1.2 lakh crore through DBT.’’