The Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh will not prosper until the government under Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is thrown out of power, said TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday.
Calling Reddy a "traitor" of the Rayalaseema region, which consists of the districts of Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, and others, Naidu claimed that the Chief Minister had rescinded 102 projects in this region with a single order (GO).
"We never took the caste into consideration but always went by the drought situation in the area (Rayalaseema)," Naidu said addressing a press conference at NTR Bhavan here.
According to the principal opposition leader of the state, the erstwhile TDP government had spent Rs 12,411 crore in five years on projects in Rayalaseema while the ruling YSRCP has only spent Rs 2,011 crore.
He alleged that the remuneration being paid to the current government's advisors is far higher than the money allocated to Rayalaseema, demanding an unconditional apology from Reddy to the drought-prone region's farmers.
The former chief minister highlighted that the region faces acute water scarcity, which prompted TDP founder and former CM of combined Andhra Pradesh N T Rama Rao to conceive the 'Telugu Ganga' project and convince the chief ministers of four states to supply surplus water from Krishna river not only to Rayalaseema but also drinking water to Tamil Nadu.
Following 'Telugu Ganga', Naidu noted that Rama Rao had also planned 'Galeru Nagari' and 'Handri Neeva' projects to ensure Rayalaseema becomes fertile.
After I came to power, Pattiseema lift irrigation project was built to supply Krishna river water to Rayalaseema and this is the first step towards the interlinking of rivers that the whole country is now planning, he said.
Alleging that Reddy has no knowledge of the importance of the irrigation sector, Naidu observed that the state of ongoing irrigation projects in Rayalaseema in the past four years is enough to term the Chief Minister as a traitor of this region.
Naidu claimed that no other chief minister had done such injustice to the region.