Thanks to Centre, AP on fast-track mode

Vijayawada: Seven months after coming to power, the NDA alliance government in the state with the handholding of the Centre has succeeded in pulling the state out of ventilator and is now ready to move forward, said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Speaking during a discussion on the budget in the Assembly on Friday, the Chief Minister said his government is now ready to go in for one lakh housewarming ceremonies in December, allot three cents of land to the poor in rural areas and two cents in urban areas. In urban areas, the government will also construct houses for the beneficiaries in the two cents land, he said, adding that it will also set industrial zones in Nakkapalli and Kopparthi with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore. Naidu said the Opposition party which does not even come to the Assembly was making all kinds of allegations regarding the budgetary allocations though they know very well that this financial year ends by March 2025. The Chief Minister said the previous government had a criminal mindset and disruptive criminal ideas which had pushed the state into a debt trap of Rs 9,74,556 crore but it was twisting facts saying that only Rs 6 crore was shown as debts. He said at least now they should stop uttering lies. But they have mastered the art by using the TV and newspaper which was set up even before they came to power to spread falsehood and fake news, Naidu said. The CM said the people should analyse the functioning of the previous government and his government and see the impact of having a leader with criminal mindset and criminal ideas and a good government which works for the welfare of the people and development of the state.

The earlier government had looted the state, destroyed all institutions, turned the capital city into ruins and neglected Polavaram irrigation project which is the lifeline of the state, he said. There were several irregularities in power purchase and liquor policy. All the schemes they introduced were nothing but scams, he added.

Naidu said when he was the finance minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the situation was not so hopeless. But this time it took almost seven months to understand the mess the state has been pushed into and find a solution to get out of it. However, the impact of the mess will last only some more time, he said.

The CM felt that no politician who resorts to such destruction and plundering of the state should be allowed to go scot-free. He reiterated that the alliance government was committed to implementing the Super Six promises in a phased manner.