Of late there is not much talk about Capital Amaravati construction. Naidu’s grandiloquence about his ability to persuade ‘Singapore’ (Naidu never says Singapore companies, many of them with shady past as for as AP is concerned. He always says Singapore giving an impression that Singapore government. Singapore government says it is not involved in the construction business) to build the capital city Amaravati and his investment attraction appears to have fallen flat. Many a time he boasted that Singapore PM was his friend and they were coming to the state because they respected their friendship with Naidu. Naidu, though being a politician-business man himself, forgot that in business and in politics there was no room for friendship. Everything revolves around profit. It’s sheer mathematics of give and take. Victory in election doesn’t mean end of the war. It’s only a beginning and preparation for the next war. There are clear signs that Naidu took the 2014 victory as permanent and started behaving as if he was the permanent chief minister. He started preaching like a management guru to officials, ministers, MLAs, people and executives of corporate, diplomats etc. In the past eighteen months he has been recycling the same speech he delivered on the day he assumed charge as chief minister near Guntur in a an expensive program. More than one and half year into the his term, none of his pompous plans have taken off and are in no position to yield results before 2018, the deadline he kept for capital and Polavaram. His calculations are going wrong both in governance in Andhra Pradesh and politics in Telangana.
Let us see the status of his four dream projects:
1. It is now clear Singapore companies are not great friends as they are made out to be. They want to exploit Naidu’s weakness for hi-tech modernity. They are imposing too many conditions, like any businessmen, to join the construction of capital Amaravati. According to media reports, They are demanding not only large swath of land , they also want no company should be allowed to operate within the radius of 25 KM. This conditions destroy the plans of Naidu and his business friends in the party.
2. Polavaram Project is unlikely to take off. Centre now wants the disputes with Odisha and Chhattishgarh be resolved first. State demanded national status to the project just because of these inter-state disputes. AP thought that once it was given national status all disputes would be taken care of by the centre. Given the opposition in Odisha centre in not in a mood to rub Navin Patnaik of Odisha on wrong side. Delay in Polavarm and non-use of Pattiseema would undermine the credibility of Naidu in the state.
3. His ambitious plan to sell thousands of tonnes of Red Sanders confiscated from the Smugglers and harvesting every year, is also not taking off. When the same Red Sanders is available in the black market cheap, no buyer from China, Korea and Japan is showing up for auctions. Naidu had to dispatch a high-level team to these countries to convince the buyers. This revenue supply line is cut.
4. Tamil Nadu, after the April encounter killing of 21 wood-cutter, has not been cooperative in arresting the smuggling and illegal felling of Red Sanders trees. As the TN officials have turned blind eye to the problem, smugglers are offering huge incentives to the families of wood cutter to work for them in Seshachalm forests. Everyday confiscation of logs bears testimony to this.
5. Another revenue supply line is Bauxite. With strong opposition leader, who won six out of seven Tribal MLAs, it is highly impossible for Naidu to venture into the Bauxite area in Agency of Visakhapatnam.
6. The employment generation in the past 18 months is not commensurate with the claims Naidu making. The APPSC is not given clearance to start the recruitment process because Naidu doesn’t want the government expenditure go up in the absence money supply. So he is showing the so called MoUs and possible employment generation in non-existent private sector for job, which looks like a pie in the sky.
In Telangana…
1. The TDP is in tatters in Telangana. Many prominent TDP leaders are in touch with TRS leadership. The withdrawal of nominations by MLC candidates is a clear indication that the party is not in control of the situation.
2. Four-time MLA G Sayanna left without any hesitation. Half of the party MLAs in GHMC are in TRS and the reaming three, if TRS is to be believed , delaying joining TRS because the deal is still being worked out.
3. Former CBI director Vijayaramarao ditched Naidu . Though it is not a big loss for the TDP, psychologically gain for TRS.
4. The Warangal victory, the unanimous elections of TRS MLC candidates following the withdrawal of nominations by TDP leaders is a bad sign for Naidu.
5. The talk in TRS circles is that cash-for-vote case will be reopened after win of GHMC elections and TRS is confident of absolute majority in Hyderabad even without the support from MIM.
6. In other words TRS is on winning streak, a morale booster for the party.
