*Centre's data bursts Chandrababu's investment claims*

Tadepalli, July 23: YSRCP State General Secretary Gadikota Srikanth Reddy said the Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government's claims of attracting Rs. 23 lakh crore in investments and creating 25 lakh jobs have been completely disproved by official data released by the Central Government. Addressing the media at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, he said the written reply given in Parliament by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, shows that industrial activity in Andhra Pradesh has been grossly overstated.

He said the Centre's data confirms that only 10 industrial projects worth about Rs. 6,900 crore have been grounded in the last two years, and only two projects have completed construction, while the remaining projects are still under construction. Even after all these projects become operational, they are expected to generate only 22,167 jobs, exposing the government's repeated claims of Rs. 23 lakh crore investments and 25 lakh jobs as pure propaganda.

Srikanth Reddy further said the coalition government has failed to strengthen the MSME sector, with nearly 4,500 MSMEs shutting down during the last two years, resulting in the loss of around 49,000 jobs. Instead of delivering industrial growth, the government has focused on Davos tours, MoU announcements and publicity campaigns without translating them into actual investments or employment.

He pointed out that Andhra Pradesh, which ranked No.1 in Ease of Doing Business under the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government, has fallen to 8th place under the coalition, reflecting declining investor confidence. He also noted that Andhra Pradesh was the leading manufacturing State in South India during the YSRCP government and ranked first in Industrial GVA in the region, according to RBI data.

Questioning the coalition government's performance, Srikanth Reddy said the YSRCP government created permanent public assets despite the COVID-19 crisis, while the present government has accumulated massive debt without creating visible infrastructure or productive assets. He challenged the coalition government to an open public debate if it could disprove any of the figures cited from the Centre, RBI or NITI Aayog.