Naidu shamelessly stealing credit for Bhogapuram airport: KK Raju

Visakhapatnam, Jan 6: YSR Congress Party Visakhapatnam district president KK Raju on Tuesday strongly criticised Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and the coalition government of shamelessly indulging in “credit theft” over the Bhogapuram International Airport, asserting that the project is overwhelmingly the outcome of the initiatives taken during the tenure of former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Speaking to the media at the YSRCP city office in Visakhapatnam, KK Raju said that from land acquisition and statutory clearances to agreements and the bulk of construction work, the major share of progress was achieved during YS Jagan’s government, and not under the present coalition.

He said YS Jagan personally took keen interest in the airport and ensured the preparation of a comprehensive master plan, including the planning of a 70-metre-wide main road connecting Visakhapatnam to the airport. “All this groundwork was completed during YS Jagan’s tenure. Today, those who did not do this foundational work are trying to appropriate the credit,” he said. KK Raju pointed out that when Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone earlier, only about 377 acres had been acquired, which was grossly insufficient even to conceive a greenfield international airport. It was only after YS Jagan became Chief Minister in 2019, he said, that the project was put on fast track — agreements were finalized in 2020, land acquisition began in 2021, NOCs were secured in 2022, land acquisition was completed by January 2023, and construction commenced on May 3, 2023, with a clear timeline given for completion by June 2026.
KK Raju further criticised the coalition government for total neglect of road connectivity to the airport. He said that despite the master plan envisioning a 70-metre-wide main access road from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram, the present government has failed even to prepare a DPR or secure alignment approvals. As a result, he said, there is still no proper main road connectivity to the airport, and passengers are forced to depend on a single congested road, especially choking traffic at Anandapuram junction. Questioning Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu, he asked how passengers are expected to reach the airport without a proper access road. KK Raju alleged that while doing nothing on the ground, coalition leaders are spreading blatant falsehoods to mislead the people of North Andhra and falsely project themselves as the architects of the Bhogapuram airport.