Who are you, Mr Shah?

Naidu spits fire on BJP chief for attack on AP govt

TDP chief asks Shah to explain for whom he is mobilising entire wealth of the country to Gujarat

Amaravati: Taking a serious exception to BJP national president Amit Shah's outburst against the TDP government, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday questioned the BJP leader's authority in saying that not even a single brick had been laid for Amaravati though the Centre had released Rs 2,500 crore and that no utilisation certificates had been sent to the Centre for the funds released thus far for various programmes.

Naidu, speaking at the second day of the three-day Telugu Desam Party's conclave Mahanadau, wanted to know who was Amit Shah in the first place to talk about state's financial management and submission of utilisation certificates as it was a government to government affair. "In what capacity is Shah asking for utilisation certificates from the state government? 

“Shah is president of a party and should do his work within the confines of the party," Naidu said and sought to know the justification for Amit Shah’s outburst saying that Amaravati remained a non-starter though the Centre had done entire funding.

"It has just released Rs 2,500 crore and makes a show that it had picked up the entire bill for Amaravati," Naidu said. He also disapproved of Shah saying that Amaravati masterplan was still in the files of the Singapore Consortium and said that time and again Shah was exceeding his brief as the president of a party.

Naidu, disputing Shah's claim that no tenders had been called for Amaravati, said the process was already on for works of a value of Rs 24,000 crore. They comprised works related to buildings in an area of 45 lakh sq ft.  "The masterplan for Amaravati was finalised quite a long ago and it is not in the files of the Singapore consortium," he said.

Naidu reminded Shah that the state government had acquired 34,000 acres of land of a value of Rs 50,000 crore from the people for construction of the capital. "Though the task is daunting, the Centre had released only Rs 1,500 crore for it. It released another Rs 1000 crore but said it should be spent on drainage works in Vijayawada and Guntur," the CM said and wanted to know if it could be described as helping the state build the capital.

Naidu, seeking to take the sting out of Amit Shah's argument on the utilisation certificates, asked him to explain to him what utilisation certificates are needed to be submitted to the Centre for the Rs 16,000 crore revenue deficit and special category status a promise on which the BJP had reneged.

The CM lashed out at Shah for saying that the utilisation certificates that were submitted were fake since they were only self-certified sheets of paper. He asked Shah as to how he could establish the authenticity of the certificates. "When NITI Aayog said they were quite alright, how could Shah pick holes in them?" he asked.

The Chief Minister made it clear that if anyone asked for the utilisation certificates, it should be Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not Amit Shah and his comments on the utilisation certificates only showed the BJP leader's irrepressible desire to poke his nose into the administrative affairs of the state government.

Naidu asked Shah to explain for whom he was mobilising the entire wealth of the country to Gujarat. "When I sought justice for the state which was still not out of woods even after four years, Amit Shah, instead of taking any sympathetic view, chose to use Pawan Kalyan to attack me and my government," he said. 

Naidu predicted that the BJP would not get even one per cent of votes if it contested in Andhra Pradesh on its own. Taking a trip down the memory lane, Naidu said party founder-president and his father-in-law NT Rama Rao had realised in 1980s itself that the Centre had always tried to subjugate the states and declared in unequivocal terms that states would never play second fiddle to the Cetnre.

"States are not slaves to the Centre. Special category status is not something that the Centre would bestow on the state as an act of generosity but it is the right of the people. If the Centre does not accord the status, the people would teach it a fitting lesson. 

Deputy Chief Ministers KE Krishna Murthy, N Chinarajappa, former Union ministers P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Y Sujana Chowdary, actor-MLA Balakrishna, AP and Telangana TDP presidents Kala Venkat Rao and L Ramana were among those present.