Naidu lambasts Jagan for totally ignoring irrigation projects in Seema

Vijayawada: Dubbing Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, as a traitor of Rayalaseema region, the TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here on Wednesday felt that the region will prosper only when Jagan is ousted from power.

Strongly condemning the rescinding of 102 projects in Rayalaseema with a single GO, Naidu told mediapersons here that the earlier TDP government has spent Rs 12,411 crore in five years on the projects in the region while the YSRCP has till now spent a meagre amount of Rs 2,011 cr.

"We never took the caste into consideration but always went by the drought situation in the area," Naidu said.

Speaking to the media at the party State office in Mangalagiri, Naidu said the monthly remuneration now being paid to the number of advisors to the State government and the funds being spent for publicity are far higher than the amount spent in Rayalaseema, the TDP chief remarked. Naidu demanded that Jagan should tender an unconditional apology to farmers in Rayalaseema for deceiving them.

Pointing out that the region faces acute water scarcity, the Telugu Ganga was planned by the then Chief Minister N T Rama Rao to mitigate the crisis, Naidu said.

To ensure supply of enough water to the drought-prone region, N T Rama Rao convinced four Chief Ministers to get the surplus water from the Krishna river through the Telugu Ganga and even drinking water was supplied to Tamil Nadu too through this project, Naidu recalled. After the Telugu Ganga, NTR had planned Galeru Nagari and Handri Neeva projects to see to it that Rayalaseema becomes a fertile area, he said.

"After I came to power, Pattiseema was built to supply Krishna waters to Rayalaseema and this is the first step towards the interlinking of rivers which the whole country is now planning," Naidu said. Even a blueprint was prepared on interlinking of rivers so that the whole State can be supplied water both for irrigation and for drinking purposes, he noted. A plan was formulated to supply water till Ichchapuram had the Polavaram been completed and this is nothing but the Srujala Sravanthi, the former Chief Minister stated.

Pointing out that the TDP government has spent Rs 68,293 cr on all the irrigation projects between 2014 and 2019, Naidu said that this government has till now spent a mere 22,165 cr. The budgetary allocation for the irrigation sector during the TDP regime was 9.63 per cent while the YSRCP government had allocated only 2.35 per cent and this too only to pay commissions to the contractors, Naidu remarked. The TDP chief promised to complete all the pending projects soon after the party returns to power.