Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao has asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to come for an open debate on the latter’s claims on Polavaram project taking the whole credit for the project considered a lifeline to the State.
In an open letter addressed to Mr. Naidu, Dr. Ramachandra Rao said if the Chief Minister felt that participating in an open debate with an MP did not behove his stature, he could depute any of his Cabinet colleagues.
It was for the Government to fix the date and time for the debate at a venue of the Chief Minister’s choice, be it in Vijayawada or at the Polavaram project site.
The debate should cover the gamut of events including the laying of the foundation stone by the then Government headed by former Chief Minister late T. Anjaiah in 1980, the developments during the over 16 years of the TDP rule and the progress achieved during the tenure of the Congress between 2004 and 2014.
He recalled how his recent open letters to Mr. Naidu asking him to release a white paper on the progress of Polavaram work went in vain. Instead, Mr. Naidu preferred to answer his queries through a section of his leaders.
Taking strong objections to the claims of a section of TDP leaders that he (Dr. Rao) was creating hurdles in the implementation of the project, Dr. Rao exhorted Mr. Naidu to appoint a commission of inquiry into his role in the project. “Mr. Naidu is leading the Government and he has the requisite documentary evidence to prove my involvement, if any, in creating hurdles to the project,” he said.
Dr. Rao reminded the active role he played in organising open debates on 31 projects taken up by the erstwhile Government headed by former Chief Minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy when the Opposition parties and the engineering experts deputed by them could not prove irregularities.
He questioned the Chief Minister’s claims that the State could get Central funds for the project because it had accepted the special package rather than insisting on the special category status.
“The claims clearly expose the blackmail tactics and double standards of the BJP-led Government at the Centre. But people are confused as to why the Government is not insisting on the promises made by the Centre on the floor of Parliament at the time of bifurcation of the State?” he wondered.
