Telugu Desam Party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu feels brand Andhra Pradesh has taken a beating due to the existing policy and needs a serious repair and restoration.
The people of the State are strangely desperate like never before and waiting for a change of guard, according to him.
Speaking to select media at his residence near here, Mr. Naidu said, ‘‘The existing investment is moving to other States and the investors in general are not interested in setting up their facilities here due to thorough discouragement from the current establishment.’‘
“We created a brand for A.P. and could attract investments till 2019 but it was severely damaged of late. Cases were filed on firms from Singapore which is known as a corruption-free country. We need to re-establish the brand and create a favourable eco-system for investments and employment. Going by the track record, I’m confident of restoring it,” he said.
Mr. Naidu opined that people are strangely desperate for change owing to unemployment, bad condition of roads, lack of infrastructure and harassment of different sorts. “I can’t say whether it is desperation, frustration or something else. I’ve never seen such an urge in people for a change. We are not over confident about our possible victory but this is my reading of the people’s pulse,” he added.
Commenting on the selection of candidates, seat sharing with its alliance partner the Jana Sena Party and preparations for the upcoming elections, Mr. Naidu said, “We have a clear understanding about who’s going to be fielded in each constituency and the candidates are also well aware of it. The party work is already going on. The candidates will be announced soon.”
The TDP chief maintained that many of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders felt insulted and neglected and a sizeable number is in touch with him and may join the party in near future.
To consolidate the vote bank, Mr. Naidu is scheduled to tour in all the parliamentary constituencies shortly.
The party is said to have lined up several programmes to reach out to people and strengthen its presence.
