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Chandrababu Naidu diverting Centre’s funds, alleges Kanna
Revealing the facts behind denying support to the State government by the Centre for various developmental projects in the state, Kanna Lakshminarayana, who is going to take charge as BJP State president on May 26 in Guntur, said that TDP president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was diverting and misusing funds released by the Union government.
Amaravati: Revealing the facts behind denying support to the State government by the Centre for various developmental projects in the state, Kanna Lakshminarayana, who is going to take charge as BJP State president on May 26 in Guntur, said that TDP president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was diverting and misusing funds released by the Union government.
Hence the Centre was exercising caution in releasing funds, he pointed out. In an exclusive interview to The Hans India, he said that the TDP government completely lost the credibility. Kanna said that the Union Ministers believe that Naidu was not spending money released for the intended projects.
The Central government released more than Rs 2,200 crore to the State government for essential infrastructure including construction of Assembly, Secretariat, High Court and Governor’s Office and others, but they did not spend even a single penny, explained Kanna Lakshminarayana.
Instead of constructing permanent secretariat, Chandrababu Naidu constructed temporary secretariat, he pointed out.
Adding to that, the Chief Minister wasted public exchequer by spending excess money to construct Interim Government Complex, he criticised. He said that the State government spent more than Rs 10,500 per square feet, where Rs 4,500 is more than enough to construct lavish buildings for governance.
In addition to that, government provided land, sand, cement, work force at free of cost but showed all these as expenditure in the contract, he added. He further blamed the State government that they submitted utilisation certificates to Central government on the ongoing works in Guntur and Vijayawada, claiming that they completed these works.
Lakshminarayana said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to constructing Polavaram Project with 100 per cent Central government’s funds. The State government enhanced the project cost which was not justified. He alleged that the State government was demanding release of funds as per their wish.
He said that Water Resource Minister Nitin Gadkari asked Chandrababu Naidu to submit scientific report on funds requirement, but they did not do it till date. Now the Central government was constructing the project with previous estimates instead of new proposals, he added.
Still, the Central government is committed to spend the required money, even enhanced, provided that they must be spent in scientific manner. At the same time, Kanna alleged that the State government bypassed the Polavaram Authority and was making unilateral decisions on project construction.
He further alleged that Chandrababu Naidu was involved in corruption and giving away works of all projects to his partymen and loyalists.
Kanna flayed Naidu for joining hands with the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi during the last two years, despite having alliance with BJP.
This was proved many a times, for instance, TDP supported Triple Talaq Bill in Lok Sabha and opposed in Rajya Sabha, he pointed out. In between, the TDP president had interaction with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, he said.
With respect to OBC Reservations bill also, the TDP opposed it in Rajya Sabha along with the Congress. Now Naidu has decided to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Kumaraswamy who was receiving support from the Congress party, the newly appointed BJP State president pointed out.
By M Sambasiva Rao
