Venkaiah reaches out to Seemandhra industry

• Modi will replicate Gujarat success

• Seemandhra poised for all-round growth

Vijayawada: In what is being seen as a damage-control exercise, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader and Rajya Sabha member, M Venkaiah Naidu, tried to give a healing touch to the wounded Seemandhras here on Tuesday.

Naidu addressed industrialists and other professionals at a meeting organized by the Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Industry that specifically addressed the future of the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh in the post-bifurcation period.

Venkaiah Naidu said that the division was a political decision by the Congress, which was brought strategically to the Parliament at its last sitting. He found fault with the way the Congress-led UPA had handled the division issue right from the beginning.

He said that the party had used the issue as ‘table item’ at the Cabinet meetings and finally pitch-forked it into the Lok Sabha without information. He said that the Congress leaders have first tried to introduce the bill in Rajya Sabha but could not do so as the Upper House Chairman had rejected it after taking legal opinion.

However, when the bill was tabled in Rajya Sabha, he said that the BJP shouldered the responsibility of getting some help to the Seemandhra region, which otherwise was looking at a losing proposition. He said that the BJP had tried to get maximum benefit to the residuary State to compensate for the loss of the capital and revenue.

Naidu said that the special category status was a blessing in disguise for the State and was the best bargain that the BJP could get for the region. He recalled that till now such a status was provide only to border States of Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and the seven north eastern States.

He urged the assembled industrialists and business houses to make use of it to develop the State. He said that the special category status would give several exemptions to the industrial and business promotions and asked the entrepreneurs of the region to get into action now. He also said that the country’s best contractors, entrepreneurs, business families and even those from the entertainment were all from Seemandhra region. He promised total support from the BJP and NDA, which are set to form the next government at the Centre. “All that you have to do is to contribute yourself to make Narendra Modi the next Prime Minister. Modi would replicate the Gujarat success and make every Seemandhra citizen proud of the boom,” he said as the gathering responded with applause.

Meanwhile, he cautioned against falling to the trap in the form of unrest that some vested interests were set to create. He said that the capital would not help in development of the region and wanted them to concentrate on industrial and business development.