Chandrababu’s Response to Amit Shah Letter: Myths And Realities

B Krishna Reddy

BJP supremo Amit Shah's stinging nine-page letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu accusing him of snapping ties with the NDA for political reasons, evoked a vague response from the latter in the state assembly on Saturday. Amit Shah brought Chandrababu's fake concern for 'special category status' for the state into sharp focus. Chandrababu's response in the Assembly is filled with half-truths and skirts the main concerns raised by the BJP president.

It must be pointed out that till recently, the AP CM kept asking what the state would gain from SCS. The curious contradiction in Chandrababu's argument lies in the fact that while he and his son, Lokesh, asked earlier why North Eastern states and others which were granted SCS remained under-developed, he is now trying to turn this question on its head! Chandrababu now cites the example of north eastern states as ones which were given SCS! He maintained that the state benefits only through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) under 90:10 ratio worth 16,128 Cr. adding that all the attendant benefits were present in Special Assistance which was equivalent to SCS. Chandrababu claimed earlier that anyone who did not welcome Special Package (Assistance) was obstructing the state’s development. It may be recalled that the TDP government hailed this central assistance package as a great achievement of the state government on September 06, 2016, a point which found resonance in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement on March 07, 2018.

TDP MP and former minister Sujana Chowdary had earlier ridiculed students and activists staging a protest on RK beach, Vizag. He labelled SCS as 'a closed chapter'. For the TDP leadership now to play martyr to the SCS cause is an insult to public intelligence.

Chandrababu Naidu's U-Turn

Less than two years later, Chandrababu Naidu unsurprisingly made a U-turn demanding special category status only because of the widespread sentiment in the state, as seen from the response to Leader of Opposition and YSRCP President, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's mass contact initiative, Praja Sankalpa Yatra. The same Chandrababu who sang praises of Special Package is now waxing eloquent about the many tax incentives under SCS and North East industrial development schemes (NEIDS). He feigns concern now about the number of industries the state could have got under SCS!

AP Economy Caught in a vicious Cycle

While Chandrababu Naidu spoke about Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), he conveniently forgot about public debt. According to figures provided by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu in his Budget presentation to the Assembly, the total debt is a whopping 28.7 per cent of the GSDP

Andhra Pradesh’s debt burden is likely to shoot up to a staggering Rs 2,79,000 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal year as the state continues to rely on heavy borrowings. Consider this—Rs 33,461 Cr. as loan in the current fiscal year to repay an interest amount of Rs. 25,928 Cr! In fact, the RBI red-flagged AP saying that high borrowing could derail the growth growth rate.

While PM Modi is criticised as being in 'flight mode', he spent only Rs. 274 cr., compared to Chandrababu Naidu's Rs 600 cr. on his chartered flights at state expense.

The Union Cabinet note on SCS to AP for 5 years was drafted on February 20, 2014 and sent to the 13th Finance Commission on March 01, 2014. Importantly, the 14th Finance Commission started functioning officially from April 01, 2015. The TDP government took office on June 02, 2014. Why didn't Chandrababu Naidu ever make a pitch for SCS to AP in these ten months?

Why didn't the TDP government not act expeditiously to get externally aided projects implemented when the special assistance (package) was approved by the Union cabinet? If public welfare was high on priority for the Chandrababu Naidu government, then why did it take so long to access these funds? Why is it that the TDP government has not responded to Central Government's suggestion of setting up a special purpose vehicle for directly receiving these funds from NABARD? Is it because, as Shah's letter suggests, it poses problems in diverting such funds for 'other' purposes?

When Naidu could arm-twist the Centre on the issue of submerged mandals of Polavaram, why couldn’t he insist on SCS to AP, which was in the same cabinet draft sent to President’s office? Is Chandrababu speaking the truth about Ease of Doing Business Index (EODB) claiming that AP earned the first place for two years in a row—2016 and 2017. Not quite. AP (score of 18.01%) is ranked 14th in 2017. The AP Chief Minister referred to the CAG report about revenue deficit but conveniently avoided CAG report of irregularities worth Rs. 353 Cr. in award of contract for the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (PLIS). Another half-truth from Chandrababu Naidu relates to his statement alleging attack on the then Narsaraopet MP, Modugula Venugopala Reddy. Who attacked Reddy? His fellow TDP MPs, Ramesh Rathod and Nama Nageswara Rao from Telangana!

The TDP Government was able to provide lands to private educational institutions such as Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, VIT and SRM University, among others, but could not allocate land to IIM Vizag for 4 years! It took a full 3 years to allocate land to all other public educational institutions. On the Greenfield expressway connecting Amaravathi to Anantapur and Kurnool to Cuddapah, a question to be asked of Chandrababu is—why didn’t the TDP Government send a formal reference to the Centre? Did it send a revised proposal for the approval of the Visakhapatnam metro project? Did it provide land for ORR of 180 km?

New Capital City

Rs.1,000 crore was released by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India for the development of the capital region. Chandrababu Naidu claimed in the assembly that his government spent the entire amount on housing and urban development in Vijayawada and Guntur, but as Shah's letter clearly states, why were the utilization certificates for the entire amount not sent to the Centre then? How can he expect central funds for this project further? Just to put things in perspective, the Chattisgarh government could build its capital Naya Rayapur with 4,000 Cr.

Another question Chandrababu needs to answer relates to the World Bank loan of $1 Billion which is being negotiated—isn't it true that the Bank’s queries on land issues have delayed sanction and that it believes that the land could have been forcibly acquired by the TDP government from farmers.

Polavaram Project

The Centre's Special Package clearly states that “The Government of India has agreed to the State’s request for the execution of the project by the State Government on behalf of the Government of India.” But Naidu characteristically, spins it around the other way.

Why did TDP Government agree to execute Polavaram Project based on 2014 estimates in September 2016 fully aware that project costs escalate? Why didn’t the Chandrababu government seek inclusion of R&R clause (Resettlement and Rehabilitation), in Special Package as it is comes to approximately a whopping Rs.30,000Cr?

In its very first meeting the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) asked the state government to hand over all the assets and liabilities related to the project as it was declared a national project. The PPA was entrusted with the responsibility of executing Polavaram project. Why did the TDP government sit on this request for 2 years till the Centre agreed to the state government completing the project? While Polavaram has hogged the headlines on corruption, the CAG has mentioned in its report that there have been corrupt practices in the project work of Pattiseema, as well.

Wasted Roll Of The Dice....

Chandrababu is trying to play victim in the most bizarre manner possible, accusing Amit Shah of insulting the people of Andhra Pradesh. Does Chandrababu take the masses to be as gullible as he thinks they are? If he does, that would really be an insult to the people of AP. Where in his letter does Shah insult the people of the state? Naidu and Lokesh are trying to divert attention painting broad strokes, instead of offering a point by point rebuttal on these issues—the TDP's shifting stand on special package and SCS, funds related to construction of capital city and utilization certificates, corruption in Polavaram and Pattiseema projects, among other things.

Chandrababu Naidu claimed earlier on many occasions that the Centre had done a lot to help AP. He said then that the state received more central funds than any other state in the country. For him to walk out of the NDA crying injustice and trying to project himself as a champion of the state's development NOW, is farcical, to say the least.