Telugu Desam in search of Mr Dependable in Delhi

VIJAYAWADA: The TD headquarters is searching for a trusted man to represent AP and the ideology of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi.
Party seniors feel the need for a man of stature from AP to be present in the Capital. With the exit of Mr. Venkaiah Naidu from active politics, a huge vacuum has been created, resulting in widening communication gap between the Centre and the state.

The neighbouring Telangana state, ruled by the TRS, has a handful of important persons in place in New Delhi who can exert pressure on the Centre, on various issues and get things done like the establishment of the High Court for separate Telangana. Interestingly, there is no proactive move from AP MPs, on either the construction of Amaravati Capital or the Polavaram project. Surprisingly, the TD MPs in Parliament are not even raising their voice over the non-release of the assured sponsored funds from the Centre to Andhra Pradesh.

Analysing this, a TD senior said, “Delhi is looking at AP, as a two point agenda--Amaravati and Polavaram, and thinking that nothing is there beyond these two issues. Mr Naidu as the Chief Minister of the erstwhile AP had turned Hyderabad into a HITEC city and financial hub but despite that development, he lost the elections even in Hyderabad.” Several TD leaders feel that Mr. Naidu's administration is just confined to Amaravati. State could not scrap GO No. 101 issued in 2012 by the Congress government till today senior observed but added that on the other hand, Polavaram would cater to the needs of the farming community, as they would be benefitted by the loan waivers.

However, the rest of the communities in BPL and EWS sections are able to get cent percent benefit from the Government's welfare schemes. As far as the housing is concerned, around 90 percent of the 1,20,000 beneficiaries  could not get loans from the bankers. Similarly, the State Government was not able to scrap the GO No. 101, given in 2012 by the Congress Government till today. The GO 101 says that half of the project is subsidy by various corporations of the Government, for various welfare schemes but for the rest of the fifty percent, bankers have to provide loans. The bankers have been insisting that the beneficiaries have to pay the EMI in advance prior to the sanction of the loans in most of the cases.

All these issues have been placed before the CMO and ministries concerned, many a time. If the situation continues like this, the Government would have to face the wrath of the voters, fear a few TD seniors. They are requesting the CM to take up the issue, on a war footing basis, to bridge the gap between the beneficiaries and the Government.