Hyderabad: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu justified not convening an all-party meeting before the government took a decision on the location of the capital.
Speaking to editors of newspapers here, Mr Naidu said, “There is no point in inviting all party leaders and opening the subject. Someone will ask for Vizag, some others will ask for Kurnool, there will be no end to this. That is why I decided on Vijayawada, which was well received by a majority of the people.”
He said the AP government will take petitions from the public once a month and sort out the issues on the spot.
“I need to create confidence in my people. They need not come to Hyderabad for all their grievances. We cannot take action by sitting here without knowing the ground realities, so the entire administration will move to places and collect petitions from the public and resolve the issues,” Mr Naidu announced.
He said there are 650 mandals equipped with video-conferencing facility and other linkages to Hyderabad, so that ministers and officials can monitor the activities.
He said his 100-day rule has created confidence among the people, who realised that only he could do anything good.
“Despite so many constraints, because of the injustice done to AP by the erstwhile UPA government, I gave people confidence that I will take care of their problems and needs.”
Asked about his relations with his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Mr Naidu said “Earlier there used to be some irritants, but we have talked on certain issues. KCR has also started thinking and acting in a positive manner. I hope there will be no problems, if one continues to think positively. Afterall it was I who created a brand image for Hyderabad. It belongs to everyone. Recently the statements (by KCR) made against the media was not proper. Whenever there is an issue, I have no hesitation in talking to KCR.”
On whether he would conduct a household survey like in Telangana, Mr Naidu said “Not exactly in those lines but we intend to do it in another way. We will go for bio-metric ways to prevent bogus beneficiaries.”
Asked about the Supreme Court judgements against linking Aadhaar for implementing welfare schemes, Mr Naidu said, “The idea has not been opposed. They wanted Aadhaar to be made available to everyone making it fool proof.”
He said he was still hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi accord special status to AP, as assured by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament. “That is one issue that has still not made any headway in the 100 days. We will pursue the matter.”
Asked about the opposition from other states on giving special status besides industrial incentives to AP, Mr Naidu said “Two things are there in the Act. No one can go back on this because theses were part of the Act.”
