Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 123: Chandrababu, Amaravathi Can Be Built Using Your Ill-Gotten Wealth

Pedakoorapadu, Guntur District: Today, during the course of my Padayatra I once again entered a village where people remembered my father with great fondness. A hundred-year-old man Veera Reddy came up to me and the affection he showered upon me made an indelible impression on my heart. The ripe old man said, “I had seen your father, the love and affection with which he treated others, the respect he accorded to others, and the kindness and generosity he showed towards the people. You are his son and I am sure you will do him proud by ascending greater heights.”

I was profoundly inspired by his words. Akula Jayalakshmi from the same village met me with her two children dressed as my father, the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy. She said that it was on account of my father that her husband was alive today, thanks to the pioneering healthcare initiative Arogyasri, put in place by him. She said that my father was the closest to being a God in their lives, even as tears welled up in her eyes. I felt very proud of my father and of the great work he did, work which evoked such spontaneous gratitude from the masses. It is an undeniable truth that selfless service will always be remembered. The truly great are never forgotten, the good work they had done always remains in the hearts of the people. The village of Pedakoorapadu is very close to the new capital. As soon as I entered the constituency, the gram Sarpanch of Chinamekkana, Tenali Govindamma, met me.

“Anna, Amaravathi is barely 20 km away from our village. We do not have basic facilities such as a good road. Our chief minister says that he would transform this entire region into Singapore and Japan. However, the ground reality here is very different. Over the past four years, the TDP government has remained completely indifferent to our plight. There is no road over this stretch of 2 km. A shower makes our lives miserable in such conditions.” She then went on to list out countless problems which the local villagers face under the TDP regime.

This is yet another clear example of Chandrababu Naidu’s tall talk. He had promised to turn the region into a world-class area in terms of development, yet when it came to the reality on the ground the situation had not changed at all. One does not know what progress he is referring to. The litany of complaints people pour out every day point to ‘progress’ in some area—widespread corruption in TDP and growing number of scams involving TDP leaders. Chandrababu surely has earned very high marks on this count.

How can a farmer function if his life is tied in red tape? This was a question and a justifiable one at that, posed by 80-year-old Ravella Narasimha Rao, a farmer. I could relate to his pain and empathise with his anguish. My father had put in place 14 lift irrigation schemes keeping in view the needs of the famers of the region, transcending political considerations. One of these was Granthasiri Lift Irrigation programme. Thos octegenarian was given the responsibility of supervising the work as the head of the committee, back then. In fact, that committee was also accorded official status and work progressed smoothly till the TDP government assumed office. The ruling party leaders appointed a committee in an unauthorised manner and tried to take over the supervision of the lift irrigation project. They created many hurdles for the farmers of the area making daily lives miserable for local agriculturists who were compelled to approach the High Court. Though they managed to get a court order in their favour, the leaders of the ruling party, officials and police got together to disregard court orders worsening the situation. At the same time, TDP men also began illegal sand mining on the river bed with dredgers earning crores of rupees in the bargain. This changed the course of the water making lift irrigation impossible. This is true of other lift irrigation projects, as well. On the one hand, TDP men continue to torment farmers, while Chandrababu sings their praises! Surely, the curses of the farmers will hurt Chandrababu at the hustings in the near future.

I have a question for the chief minister—You sought loans for Amaravathi which is astonishing. Is this what you, who claim decades of political experience, have finally accomplished? You used your 40 years of experience to cheat people and get away from being implicated in cases of corruption. Without doing much for the state, you brought people to a state of abject penury. Is this not plain betrayal on your part? Is it not true that Amaravathi can be built with the wealth you have amassed illegally?