The last Chief Minister of unified Andhra Pradesh, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who had recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on June 10 (Saturday) that development of Andhra Pradesh would be possible only with the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Speaking at the party’s ‘Mahajan Sampark Abhiyan’, a public meeting, at Srikalahasti, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy, while referring to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), said development of Andhra Pradesh was not possible with the regional parties.
“To continue in public life, I joined the national party, the BJP, which alone can ensure justice to Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said, though he relentlessly strove to bring the ₹7,400-crore drinking water project to the combined Chittoor district, from Kandaleru to the tail-end regions of Kuppam, it was cancelled by the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu when the TDP came to power in 2014.
When the YSRCP came to power in 2019, it too did not bother to give life to the drinking water scheme. “The international cricket stadium project at ₹125 crore mooted by me in Tirupati was also undone by Mr. Naidu,” he added.
Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said the regional parties would only concentrate on getting Central funds and siphoning them off with corrupt practices.
“The parties that are steeped in corruption should not have a place both at the Centre and in the State,” he said.
BJP State president Somu Veerraju went emotional, saying that it was unfortunate that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was naming all the welfare schemes sponsored by the Central government after himself or his father.
Referring to the works of national highways and educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh, he said that during the last nine years, the Centre had brought unprecedented development to the State.
