Chandrababu living on lies and credit chori

Tadepalli, Jan 12: Former Minister and Guntur district YSRCP president Ambati Rambabu strongly condemned Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for spreading “blatant lies” before senior officials on the Bhogapuram International Airport and the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, and for repeatedly targeting YSRCP and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy only to divert attention from his own failures. Speaking to the media at the YSRCP Central Office, he said Chandrababu, who could not even resolve land acquisition or court hurdles during his earlier term, is now brazenly trying to appropriate credit for works executed entirely during Y.S. Jagan’s tenure.

Ambati recalled that Chandrababu initially sought nearly 15,000 acres in the name of Bhogapuram airport, triggering massive public protests, and later reduced it to 5,000 acres. In contrast, the YSRCP government planned both the airport and aerocity within just 2,703 acres, resolved around 130 court cases, rehabilitated nearly 400 families across three villages, completed land acquisition at a cost of about Rs. 960 crore, and laid the entire administrative and connectivity groundwork. Despite the COVID crisis, Y.S. Jagan laid the foundation stone on May 3, 2023. “Today, Chandrababu and his media claim he built the airport. People know the truth,” he said.
On Vizag Steel Plant, Ambati Rambabu said the much-publicised Rs. 12,000 crore package is not to strengthen the plant but to clear liabilities and facilitate backdoor privatisation. He pointed out that around 1,590 regular employees have already been pushed out through VRS and warned that the Centre’s phased privatisation is being actively aided by the State government, even as Chandrababu falsely claims he has “saved” the plant.

He also exposed Chandrababu’s claims on investments, stating that RTI data and the Socio-Economic Survey reveal that between 2014–19 only about Rs. 50,708 crore of major industrial investments came with 84,333 jobs, whereas during 2019–24, despite two COVID years, investments touched about Rs. 69,799 crore creating 90,230 jobs, apart from over 32 lakh jobs in the MSME sector. “Yet, Chandrababu and his friendly media shamelessly project imaginary figures,” he said.
Coming down heavily on the present government’s economic record, Ambati Rambabu said Chandrababu’s 18-month rule has meant only “burden, burden and burden” for people, with electricity charges alone imposing over Rs. 20,000 crore additional load. He said the coalition government has already raised about Rs. 3.02 lakh crore in debt in just 18 months nearly 90% of what Y.S. Jagan borrowed over five full years , without delivering a single major welfare or development programme. “When YS Jagan borrowed, they screamed Sri Lanka; when Chandrababu borrows even more, does Andhra Pradesh become America?” he asked.

He further criticised the political theatrics of alliance leaders, dismissing claims that Y.S. Jagan is “hatching conspiracies from Bengaluru,” asserting that as Leader of the Opposition he is consistently among the people questioning anti-public policies, unlike Chandrababu who once ran opposition politics entirely from Hyderabad. Ambati Rambabu accused Chandrababu of misusing religion and institutions like TTD for petty politics only to malign Y.S. Jagan, and warned that such conduct will never be forgiven by the people or by Lord Venkateswara himself.