BJP will organise 5,000 meetings in Andhra Pradesh to highlight failures of TDP and YSRCP, says Somu Veerraju

‘Simply building three capitals will not result in development’

Bharatiya Janata Party State president Somu Veerraju has said that the party will organise 5,000 meetings all over the State, to highlight the failures of the previous Telugu Desam Party(TDP) government and the present YSR Congress Party government, with the objective of bringing the BJP to power in the 2024 elections.

The beneficiaries of various Central government schemes would be told about the funds being extended by the Union government for their welfare, Mr. Veerraju told the media here on Sunday. He alleged that the ‘family parties’ were only concerned with furthering their own interests in the State

He said that there around 2.75 crore beneficiaries, who were availing of various schemes of the Union government in the State. These include 32 lakh housing beneficiaries and 80 lakh persons, who were getting rice. Dismissing the talk of three capitals as ‘drama’, the BJP leader said simply building three capitals would not result in development. The BJP was committed to decentralisation of development. He wondered what development the YSR Congress Party government initiated in Visakhapatnam during the last three years.

Alleging that the YSRCP and the TDP were playing a ‘mind game’, Mr. Veerraju said that the BJP would play a ‘constructive psychological game’ in the State. He likened it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Surgical strike and exuded confidence that the ‘BJP beneficiaries’ would help the party in winning the game like they had done in Uttar Pradesh.

He alleged that the State government had failed to construct fishing berths though the Centre was ready to sanction 60% of the funds for construction. It had failed to acquire land for the Nadikudi-Sri Kalahasti railway line project and failed to construct the Polavaram project though the Centre had sanctioned funds, Mr. Veerraju alleged

Both the TDP and the YSRCP governments had failed to conduct socio-economic surveys on those displaced by the Polavaram project for payment of compensation, he alleged.

The BJP government had proposed to sanction a second medical college and an ESI Hospital in Visakhapatnam city in 2014 but the previous Telugu Desam Party government had failed to allot sufficient land required for the project due to which the medical college proposal was shelved, Mr. Veerraju alleged.