Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s proposed fast during the ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ in New Delhi on February 13 to press for the Special Category Status was an exercise in futility, YSRCP leader Botcha Satyanarayana said on Thursday.
Addressing the media here, he questioned the rationale behind spending the tax-payers’ money on it. Mr. Naidu would be spending ₹1.30 crore on hiring two trains for it, he added.
Finding fault with the government for presenting a full Budget when elections were round the corner, he alleged that Mr. Naidu was indulging in one publicity stunt after another keeping the elections in view.
He cited as example the distribution of ₹10,000 per head to the DWCRA members through three cheques — two of them post-dated — under the ‘Pasupu Kumkuma’ scheme. He described the budget as a “jugglery of figures.”
Due to the “ill-conceived” policies of the government and heavy expenditure on “publicity,” the State was in a debt trap with the loan burden going up to ₹2.50 lakh crore in the last four years, he alleged.
Saying the YSRCP was firm on supporting any party that would accord SCS after forming the government, he said the TDP was staging a drama over it.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented mud and water at the ‘bhoomi puja’ for Amaravati, Mr. Naidu remained silent. We did ask Mr. Naidu to take the BJP to task then. When we insisted on the SCS, he said special package was better than it, Mr. Satyanarayana said.
After being with the BJP for four years, Mr. Naidu was shedding crocodile tears on the SCS, he added.
Volkswagen scam
On the TDP’s allegation of his involvement in the Volkswagen scam when he was the Industries Minister during the Congress regime, Mr. Satyanarayana said, “My name has been cleared by CBI and the amount recovered from the real culprits.” If the TDP had guts, let it order a probe into the issue, he said.