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YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath on Saturday criticised the Andhra Pradesh government's approach to capital development, questioning the roadmap for Amaravati and alleging that decisions taken after bifurcation reflected "bad governance" and a weak understanding of the state's requirements.
In an interview with ANI, Rajendranath said the process of selecting Andhra Pradesh's capital after bifurcation had overlooked the recommendations of an expert committee constituted through an Act of Parliament. "This capital again is part of bad governance and a very weak understanding," Rajendranath said. He said that after the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh, a technical committee was formed to identify the most suitable location for the future capital, given that residual Andhra Pradesh had lost Hyderabad. "Basically, when the state was reorganised, there was a very good technical committee constituted as an Act of Parliament to look for the best possible place for the future capital because residual Andhra Pradesh loses Hyderabad. And there was sufficient time given--ten years given for you to build your new capital," Rajendranath said. "The committee was headed by KC Sivaramakrishnan, who was a former IAS officer, served as the Secretary of Municipal Administration and Urban Development, and was one of the foremost authorities on that subject in the country. If you look at that committee, it was filled with people who are deans and specialists in urban planning, environment, etc. After touring the entire state and gathering data from everywhere, what Sivaramakrishnan opined and stated was that decentralisation is better for the state of Andhra Pradesh, both for historical reasons and practical ones," he added. When asked to rate Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's tenures after bifurcation in terms of economic development, Rajendranath sharply criticised the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government. "If it comes to giving a number score for what they have done, I would give zero--not even one. I am looking at a comparison of both tenures. The last tenure was a disaster, and this one is an even bigger disaster," he said. Rajendranath alleged that the 2014-19 government lacked a coherent policy framework for state development and criticised decisions taken after bifurcation. "You did not have a policy for the growth of the state. You did not have a proper policy in any single direction, which actually gave any output or result. You had a policy of just abruptly leaving Hyderabad at midnight, shifting somewhere else, and trying to establish yourself in a place that was explicitly advised against. You did not have a coherent policy in any one direction, " Rajendranath said. (ANI)
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