Modi dubs Naidu as U-Turn Babu, says polls in AP will see new sunrise

Team Udayavani, Mar 30, 2019, 8:04 AM IST

Kurnool (AP): The April 11 elections would herald a “new sunrise” and see the “son set” in Andhra Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here Friday, in a fiery attack aimed at Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh.

Your vote will make the sunrise and the son set. Do you not want the sunrise of AP? Should not the son set happen? the Prime Minister asked people at a largely-attended election campaign rally of the BJP in this historic town that was the capital of the erstwhile Andhra state in the 1950s.

Modi said he was told that it was the first time that a Prime Minister visited Kurnool.

Peoples vote on April 11 – for the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly — would ensure the double engine growth for Andhra Pradesh, with a BJP government at the Centre and also at the state, Modi remarked.

Your vote will also help build a New India that enables equal opportunities for all. Help strengthen this by voting the BJP, he appealed.

In his 25-minute address, the Prime Minister elaborated what all the Central government did for AP in the last five years and how the rulers of the state focused only “on filling” their own coffers.

I could have definitely done a lot more for the state had I got the required support of the state government. But their intention was not to serve the people or develop the state but design schemes only to indulge in scams,” he said.

Infrastructure development programmes could have been taken up at a brisk pace but the rulers here were busy working for their “own family’s political and economic benefits, the Prime Minister noted, hitting out at Chandrababu Naidu, whom he continued to call U-turn Babu.

The TDPs contesting candidates list is filled with relatives of the U-turn Babu, he said.

Modi said as the pradhan sevak and chowkidar (watchman), he was constantly fighting the corrupt and dynastic politics, be it of the TDP, Jaganmohan Reddy (of the YSR Congress) or the Congress, the other three main political players in the state.

Their intentions itself are malafide. In the Chandrababu Naidu government, its not just scams in the schemes but schemes itself were designed only for scams, the Prime Minister charged, referring to the state capital city Amaravati and Polavaram multipurpose project.

Polavaram is a live example. The Centre released Rs 7,000 crore but instead of building the project, the state government went on escalating the costs. Thats why there is water scarcity in the parched Rayalaseema region. Not only are farmers suffering but also industrial growth is hampered, Modi lamented.

TDP and Congress ruled the state for decades and Chandrababu Naidu had been the Chief Minister for a very long time.

Rivers Tungabhadra and Krishna flowed through the region but farmers in Rayalaseema which otherwise was known as a ‘ratanaala seema’ (land of the gems) did not get water for their crops, the Prime Minister said.

This was only due to the “ill intentions” of the rulers, he added.

The Prime Minister listed out various initiatives of his government like the setting up of a greenfield petroleum complex, establishing a new railway zone at Visakhapatnam, opening of numerous institutions of national importance like IIM, IIT, IIIT, National Institute of Ocean Technology and AIIMS.

He also recalled the sanctioning of Visakhapatnam- Chennai Industrial Corridor, expanding the airports at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Rajamahendravaram, saying they contributed to the progress of the state.

Under Sagarmala, we have taken up projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in AP alone. As many as 82 lakh small farmers in the state are drawing benefit under the PM Kisan scheme.

“The Chandrababu Naidu government is merely pasting stickers on the Central schemes and claiming them as its own, Modi alleged.

It was for this reason Naidu earned a dubious moniker of Sticker Babu besides U-turn Babu, the Prime Minister said mockingly.

He has taken a U-turn when this chowkidar started seeking accounts for the funds released by the Centre. He has taken a U-turn on development (of the state) and quit the NDA.

“He now chose such friends who are on bail gadi who are steeped in corruption and who treat Pakistan as hero, Modi said in an apparent reference to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi who are on bail in the National Herald case.

The Sticker Babu had been spreading lies and falsehood for over a year now only to cover his ‘dramas’, Modi added.

BJP state president Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, MP G V L Narasimha Rao and other leaders were also present at the well-attended rally.

Andhra Pradesh goes to simultaneous elections to the 175-member assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase on April 11 with the BJP contesting them alone.