Govt decisions have hit brand Andhra: TDP

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 4 

Brand Andhra, built by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, has been badly hit by “vindictive and immature” actions of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). All governance has been suspended and stakeholders are nervous after World Bank and other institutions withdrew support, sensing lack of clarity on the part of the state government, says TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh. 

 In an interview with The Tribune, the TDP leader, who is the son of TDP chief and former Cabinet Minister for Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in the previous government, said: “It is common for Opposition parties to level allegations against the ruling party, but once in power, the government should not make any statement without proof. There is not an iota of truth in the corruption charges against the TDP, but uncertainty in the state has forced investors to pull back.

“Each decision of the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government was taken for Cabinet for clearance. Not one decision was taken at the instance of any minister or political leader. Our government lured industries by giving them incentives. Why else would they come to a newly formed state without any infrastructure,” he asked. 

He claimed Hyderabad was a world-class city today because Naidu took decisions to invite institutions like Indian School of Business (ISB), Microsoft and Adani. “Adani’s data centre will provide over a lakh jobs. To reverse such decision will only harm the interests of the state,” he maintained.

On why the TDP had been virtually routed, winning just 23 of the 175 assembly seats, Nara Lokesh put it  aptly, “We got the physics right, but failed to strike chemistry with the people. Andhra is leading the nation in all growth indicators, yet we got less than one-fourth of the seats we had expected. The leadership and the cadre on the ground were confident of getting over 107 seats. The agency that rightly predicted the local bodies elections also saw TDP emerging as the largest party. We are still trying to understand the reasons for the poll debacle”.

With the TDP polling 40 per cent of votes, Nara Lokesh, among the three leaders to restructure the party, says Naidu’s priority was to rebuild the party by reinvigorating the cadre.