VIJAYAWADA: Stating that his government has put the State on the track of development and is implementing various welfare schemes, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that it is time for the people to think why they should vote for the TDP in the coming elections.

“After beginning the journey with troubles caused by the State bifurcation and credibility of the State was ruined due to the corruption of a person (read YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy) by taking advantage of his father’s position, we have been implementing several welfare schemes successfully,  when compared to rich States like Telangana. In fact, we brought back AP’s reputation, which was evident from getting `1 lakh crore investments (Adani Group Rs 70,000 crore and APP Rs 24,000 crore) on a single day,’’ Naidu said.

Speaking to media persons at the Grievance Hall in Undavalli on Saturday, Naidu said that while the leaders of the previous government were boasting of enhancing social pension to `200 in the past 10 years, the TDP government had increased the amount by 10 times (Rs 2,000) and was implementing the debt-redemption scheme for farmers despite AP being a revenue deficit State.

Sankranti festive atmosphere commenced in the State right from the beginning of January with conduct of Janmabhoomi programme, he said and added that active participation of people led to the success of the 10-day event, in which issues pertaining to the State were debated. Moreover, many public issues were resolved. 
“Preparation of vision document at the village level is a unique feature. We are preparing vision documents in the district and State levels. Probably, there is no such practice in the world to prepare development plan at the panchayat level. Of course, there is no planning now at the national level as a result of the Centre scrapping the Planning Commission,’’ he said, in a dig at the Centre.

JP panel report:  CM to write to PM
Referring to the report submitted by the Jayaprakash Narayan committee comprising of intellectuals from AP as well as other States, mentioning that AP should get `75,000 crore from the Centre, the Chief Minister said he will write a letter to Prime Minister demanding the same. The committee prepared the report only after considering all the issues and based on the details given by both the State and Centre. At least now, the BJP government should respect the report and release the money, Naidu said. The government will also send letter to public asking whether their grievances raised during Janmabhoomi were resolved or not. 

Alliance before and  after polls   
Speaking on SP and BSP keeping the Congress out of the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Naidu said that there is scope for 3-4 combinations in the 2019 elections. “Some political parties might join hands before election and others after elections. Similarly, political and secural compulsions will also impact the combinations. For instance, the TDP despite being a secular party, joined hands with the BJP in the past due to political compulsion. Similarly, some parties will not join hands with national parties in State level, but they will join hands at the national level due to democratic compulsions,” he said.