Hyderabad: It was a year of challenges for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the once poster boy of IT and reforms in India who completes one year in office in the truncated state tomorrow as he grapples with the fallout of an acrimonious bifurcation.
After a 10-year break, Naidu rode to power in last year’s Assembly elections on the back of his image as a development-oriented leader, while YSR Congress was relegated to the second position and the Congress, once a dominant force in the southern state, decimated.
Naidu, however, found himself in an unenviable position as the new Andhra Pradesh (post formation of Telangana), comprising 13 districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema had no capital of its own and the state had a revenue deficit of about Rs 16,000 crore.
Though Hyderabad, the crown jewel of undivided Andhra Pradesh, is the common capital for both states, the Andhra Pradesh government does not have any executive powers over the city or a share in the revenues from the metropolis.
The burden on the seasoned leader compounded with the huge funds required for implementation of his pre-election promises like waiver of loans for farmers and self-help groups for women.
Naidu had to announce a 43 per cent hike in salaries for state government employees after the Telangana government made such an offer to its own staff.
Naidu, whose TDP shares power with BJP both at the Centre and in AP, is also expected to deliver on promises made by the previous UPA government to Andhra Pradesh during bifurcation like special category tag to the residuary state.
Naidu has alleged that bifurcation last year was done in an unjust manner and denied a level playing to AP. "It has been a very challenging year. We have, as a result of bifurcation and as a result of the last 10 years of mis-governance and corruption, inherited a very complex political, administrative and financial environment.
"The uncertainty during the last five years of the previous (Congress) government has compounded and complicated the challenges," Parakala Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications) to the state government, told PTI here today. The government faced deficit on the fiscal and other fronts and had to leave the capital (Hyderabad), he said.
"The bifurcation was done in such an unjust way that it denied a level playing field to our state. In the sense, all the assets were divided on the basis of location.
The liabilities were divided on the basis of population.
"Because, the assets were all built in Hyderabad, they went to Telangana. Because, the larger chunk of population belongs to Andhra Pradesh, we have got more liabilities," Prabhakar said.
Naidu's daunting task is development of a grand capital city for the people of Andhra Pradesh as they feel deprived of a capital of their own even in the 21st century.
Capital city is an emotive issue as the Seemandhra districts were part of composite Madras state, but became part of Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as its capital.
Naidu, however, did not follow the recommendations made by a Centre-appointed committee on capital city development and opted for the help offered by Singapore government to prepare the Master Plans for the capital city.
The Singapore government has submitted the master plans for the capital region and capital city so far and a plan for the "seed capital" would be given soon.
The Chief Minister performed the 'bhumi puja' for the capital city in the Vijayawada-Guntur region yesterday and vowed to build a "people's capital and a 21st century” capital," for the state.
"Some people mocked at me. But, I said the capital I am going to build is not just an administrative capital. We are talking about Singapore today.
Singapore people said your Amaravati would be better than even Singapore. I felt happy," Naidu said yesterday.
Though the state government managed to gather about 33,000 acres as part of its "land pooling" policy, the exercise received questions from various quarters.
The questions included locating the capital in a multi-cropped land, compensation for farmers among others. Despite the challenges, the state government is moving ahead as per well laid-out plans for the future, Prabhakar said.
"But then, we have a mandate for a very clear vision. We are proceeding with a very clear vision. We know where we have to be by 2022, where we have to be by 2029 and where we have to by 2050. By 2022, we want to be one of the three best performing states in the country. By 2029, we want to be the best performing state in the country. By 2050, we want to be the best destination for investment and best in all the human development indices. This is our vision and goal. So, we are starting with a lot of challenges. We have set very ambitious goals for ourselves," he said.
The state government has undertaken several missions primary sector mission (agriculture), infrastructure mission, industry mission, social empowerment mission, knowledge and skill development mission and service sector mission for convergence of different departments to improve efficiency.
