Decentralisation has no political agenda, says Muttamsetti Srinivas

Visakhapatnam: Minister for Tourism Muttamsetti Srinivas questioned Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu whether his party is favourable to Visakhapatnam becoming the executive capital or not.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, the minister said Andhra Pradesh suffered a lot during bifurcation, especially for losing Hyderabad in the process. He mentioned that such regional conflicts would arise if development was concentrated in one place.

The minister explained that regional conflicts can be avoided with decentralisation and Visakhapatnam has required infrastructure to be an executive capital.

Srinivasa Rao said that it was not a hasty decision to decentralise the administration of the state, unlike the previous government which selected Amaravati as the sole capital city for political gains.

He criticised that the TDP leaders were only concerned about votes and seats in Visakhapatnam and left development to the winds during its rule. He questioned Chandrababu Naidu what he did for North Andhra other than betraying the people.

The minister said that the government is committed towards the development of North Andhra region and thus initiated various development projects right from establishing educational institutions to multispecialty hospitals in tribal areas.

He recalled that the credit for giving 75 percent jobs to the locals goes to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He said that the government has a clear vision on the development of all the three regions through decentralisation and the decision has no political agenda.

The meeting was attended by MLA Tippala Nagireddy and YSRCP city president Vamsi Krishna Yadav, among others.